Meditation
There is a difference between prayer and meditation. In prayer we are talking to the Lord; in meditation we are thinking about Him. A story is often told of the famed Dr. Thomas Chalmers of Edinburgh. The great preacher was walking down Princess Street with his head bowed deep in thought when a friend, watching him, finally walked beside him and touched his sleeve. Chalmers looked up, still deep in thought, and said, "That's a glorious verse - `My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' He had been deep in meditation.
The Christian is not to spend all of his time in meditation. God has so ordered and arranged life that there are times when we must not think of Christ. The surgeon who is in the midst of an operation, the accountant who is adding up a column of figures, the driver who is speeding through crowded streets at the wheel of a car, the student who is engrossed in a lesson in some secular subject, should not turn his thought away from the task at hand. These tasks and occupations are provided for us by the Lord Himself, and He will best be served by our obeying His command to do with all our might what our hands find to do (Col. 3:23).
The Christian who knows the Lord and loves the Word of God will find that there are breathing spells, though, when it is possible to lift up the eyes from the surgery, or there will be a moment at the completion of the addition of the column, or there will be a traffic light where we pause for a moment and allow the Spirit to catch up with us. In these moments we may think again of the Savior and remember some of the wonders that are His glory.
That is what the apostle meant when he said that the life of the believer was to be "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). If you are able to cultivate this habit of occasional meditation, you will ennoble all your work. If you are a ditch digger, you will be a better ditch digger, and if you are a surgeon, you will be a better surgeon. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God" (Ps. 42:1).
1. What are some scriptures that talk about the practice of meditation? How do these verses shape our understanding of meditation?
2. If we constantly mediate on the word of God will we really become better stewards of our calling? How so?
