February 22, 2018

 

Meditating on the Word

“Oh how I love Your law!  It is my meditation all the day.  You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.  I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.  I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word.  I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me.  How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”  Ps. 119:97-104

There is a pattern that emerges from this passage.  The Psalmist writes that as he meditates upon the law and the testimonies of God found in the word, he receives understanding.  His understanding is great, because he not only meditates upon the law, but he purposes to be obedient to the law.  Let’s look more closely at the pattern on:

• Meditation;
• Understanding; and,
• Obedience.

Psalm 1:2 states, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”  This supports and confirms what we have read in Psalm 119.  The word meditate in Hebrew is hagah.  It means to reflect, to moan, and to contemplate.  It is much more active than our western way of meditation.  Often times, people will take a verse of Scripture and softly repeat it.  We find a similar Scripture in Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”   In this text the Lord is giving instructions to Joshua before he leads Israel into the Promised Land of Canaan.  Notice the Lord tells Joshua that the Book of the Law – the commandments – is not to depart from his mouth.  This again implies a speaking forth in the act of meditation.  Another example found in the Psalms is Ps. 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”

From this process of meditating upon God’s word, the Psalmist received understanding.  The same holds true for us today.  The Hebrew word for understanding is sachal and means wisdom, prudence, and the process of reaching an understanding about something.  The Holy Spirit reveals understanding to us as we meditate upon God’s truth found in His word.

The final piece is the action of obedience to what has been contemplated and understood.  Note that the Psalmist writes that he has “more understanding than all my teachers,” and he “understands more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.”  With this understanding comes the responsibility to be obedient.  There is then a responsibility to obey the truth once we know it.  May the Holy Spirit help us to be obedient to God’s word.