The Importance of Meditation

By Maurice Roberts

Reprinted from the April 2020 issue of The Banner of Truth Magazine

One of the duties which is too often overlooked today is that of meditation. God makes it very clear that we should not only read the Bible and speak to one another about it but that we should also make it the subject of meditation. A text which we need to lay to our heart is what the Lord says to Joshua: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night” (Joshua 1:8).

The book of the law is God’s inspired book, which today we have in much greater fulness and which we call the Bible, God’s message to mankind— both then and now.

In order the more to stir up his people in the days of Joshua God gives then this very encouraging motive: “For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8). No motive for meditating on the Bible could be more enriching than this, surely.

God is giving us a divine promise here. If we meditate on the Bible we shall, as his believing people, have a fruitful life in which God will prosper us and give us success. This refers especially to the comfort at the end of life having honoured God and so served him here that he will give us his eternal blessing as those who have ordered their lives, not by worldly wisdom, but by heavenly, divine wisdom.

What does it mean to meditate? What is the duty which God here gives to us? To meditate means to read his word thoughtfully, to believe it to be the message which God himself has written to us, and to spend time fixing the truths of his word deeply into our mind, our conscience and our daily life.

The Bible too ofter is treated as if it were just another book — interesting but no more authoritative than the books of men. This all-too-common treatment of God’s word leads people to live shallow, worldly life which never experiences the supremely-important blessings of peace with God, pardon of sin and assurance of eternal life in heaven at last.

When God tells us to meditate on his word day and night, he means that we should make it our lifelong delight to seek to know the great doctrines of Scripture and to live more and more in the light of them. If we do so, our life will be more and more changed for the better because we shall live in the real world and not in the artificial and shallow world of human guess-work.

What are the supremely great doctrines which we find in Scripture and which are to be subject of our meditation? For present purposes we may refer to the following doctrines of God’s holy word as among the most profound and essential for our meditation: creation, sin, redemption, death, and eternity. We should think of them often.

Creation

God tells us in the early verses of his word that the universe and all the creatures in it, including man and woman, are the work of his own creative power. The Bible informs us that he created this universe out of nothing, by his power alone, “in six days and very good.”

The serious believer should meditate on this wonderful truth continually and give praise and thanks to God for it.

Sin

There was no sin, death or curse when God created the world. But sin entered the universe because Adam, the first man, disobeyed God. All the sickness, misery, evil and death in the world entered by the disobedience of our first father, Adam. To meditate on this means that we blame ourselves for the miseries of this world. We do not blame God for them.

Redemption

This is the comforting message that God has provided a way of forgiveness for us so that we may know peace of heart, a quiet conscience and hope of God’s blessing. To meditate on redemption is to see how wonderful a person is the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot redeem ourselves by our own efforts. But by faith in what Jesus has done on the cross for us we may have assurance of God’s pardon, favour and blessing. This is the supremely important doctrine on which we should meditate.

Death

When we meditate on death we think on three things: (1) as sinners we all deserve to die in that eternal punishment which is God’s just expression of his anger because we are sinners; (2) We deeply appreciate the love which God has shown to us undeserving sinners in that he has punished our sins in Christ so that we who believe in Christ are now lovingly forgiven our debt; (3) We think of death as very near to us all. Life is short and death is very near. To meditate on death is to be reminded to make the message of the gospel our supreme priority. To avoid eternal punishment we must get right with God now in this brief life. We are foolish to live for nothing but pleasure, sport, and laughter.

Eternity

To meditate on eternity means that we often remind ourselves, and others, that after death there is consciousness. Death is not a state of non-existence. Death is where the soul is conscious.

There are two states after death, heaven and hell. By meditation we remind ourselves that we wish to be in heaven, a world of peace, love and blessing. We do not want to be in hell, a place where the unforgiven sinner suffers God’s eternal punishment.

Do we want a truly happy life? The way to get it is to meditate on the truths of God’s word. We are all very imperfect, but the Scriptures teach us to live in the way in which God will honour. The worldly man will scoff at what God tells us to do. But all who obey God’s word and live by faith in Jesus will be eternally blessed in heaven at last.

Do you meditate? The immensity and profundity of theological doctrines only become apparent to us as we gaze at them through the telescope of meditation. God’s great truths are only understood to be like huge mountains when we fix our minds on them in meditation. Let us take a few examples of what are immensely wonderful doctrines.

God is one and yet three: one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father eternally begets the Son. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. How amazing and sublime is this God!

The incarnation of Christ is another sublime doctrine worthy of meditation. Christ is divine. He is God. Yet at his incarnation he took a perfect, similar human nature to our own into union with his eternal Divine nature. He is one person with two natures. He is the God-Man. He took his human nature to himself, not just for thirty-three years, but forever!

Our redemption is another wonderful theme for meditation. The only way’s sins could be forgiven is if the guilt of them could be atoned for. This atonement must needs be of infinite value. In order to achieve this, Christ, a person of infinite value, died to pay the price of our guilt. In order to do this he must take unto himself our human nature without sin. The way in which Christ did this was to be born of a virgin. In this way Christ was, in his human nature born perfectly sinless. Because he was also God, his death on the cross for his people is of infinite value. O sublime love! O what a perfect Saviour, worthy of our lives given to him in gratitude!

We should meditate often also on the glory of heaven. It will be a world of love, where sin shall never enter. Those who enter heaven will be sinless eternally ever after. They will also be filled with love for the great and holy God, whom they will then have eyes to see.

The church of christ is a theme on which we should often meditate. The church consists of divinely chosen sinners who, in this life, are given grace to hate sin and love God. In this life the church is far from perfect. But in glory at last, when Christ returns, the church will be the unblemished Bride of the Lord Jesus. She will be married to him! there are no words adequate to express the happiness which true believers will enjoy in the paradise above, which is their eternal home.

It is by meditation on such glorious subjects that our soul is enriched.

The Importance of Meditation

This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.