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Psalm 39 and Meditation: Brood, Burn, Beseech

Psalm 39 shows us how meditation functions practically for the Christian:

Psalm 39:3 My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4 “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

David meditated (mused), became hot, and began to pray. You could alliterate it like this: His mind brooded, burned, and besought God in prayer. The heat of his meditation led him to ejaculatory prayer. Meditation brings heat. Heat brings prayer.

Thus often in the beginning of a Psalm we find his heart low and discouraged, but as this musing was acted and heightened, his spirit grew hotter, and at last flies all on a flame, flies up to a very high pitch of heavenly heat (Nathanael Ranew).

Meditate with diligent application of the Word of God, and especially the promises of the gospel, until your heart grows warm from its teaching:

Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

The Word of God is a flame that needs to be stirred through meditation. Substitute the idea of meditation for preaching in the following quote and it rings true:

Thomas Cartwright…said, ‘As the fire stirred giveth more heat, so the Word, as it were, blown by preaching, flameth more in the hearers than when it is read.’ That is, to me, a very striking and most valuable statement. It tells us, incidentally, something of the purpose of preaching. The real function of preaching is not to give information, it is to do what Cartwright says; it is to give it more heat, to give life to it, to give power to it, to bring it home to the hearers…He is to inspire them, he is to enthuse them, he is to enliven them and send them out glorying in the Spirit (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors).

The Word of God is a fire that must be set ablaze through meditation and then put into vocalization and action:

Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.’

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

The Word of God is like a lion that needs to be let out of its cage through meditation:

The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself (Charles Spurgeon).

Christian, are you cold? Let your heart burn with meditation. Hot thoughts thaw out frozen Christians:

Meditate so long till thou findest thy heart grow warm in this duty. If, when a man is cold you ask how long he should stand by the fire [the answer is] till he be thoroughly warm, and made fit for his work. So, Christian, thy heart is cold; never a day, no, not the hottest day in summer, but it freezes there; now stand at the fire of meditation till thou findest thy affections warmed, and thou art made fit for spiritual service. David mused till his heart waxed hot within him (Thomas Watson).

Meditation takes a cold heart and makes it warm with affection for Christ on account of his great promises. It finds temptation as a harbinger of brooding on the Scriptures. It finds death as something pointing the mind toward resurrection and causing it to burn. It finds depression as a prodding toward bursting out in prayer.

Is your heart cold? God graciously gives us the means to kindle a fire that will warm our souls – the contemplation of the Word and Gospel of God.

More on Meditation: Quotes

In my study of the biblical idea of meditation I’ve come across some pretty good quotes. I list a few here for future reference:

Meditation Defined:

To meditate in God’s word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with a close application of mind, a fixedness of thought, till we be suitably affected with those things and experience the savour and power of them in our hearts” (Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalm 1).

[Meditation is] the steadfast and earnest bending of the mind upon some spiritual and heavenly matter, discoursing thereof with our selves, till we bring the same to some profitable issue, both for the settling of our judgments, and the bettering of our hearts and lives (John Ball, A Treatise on Divine Meditation).

Meditation looks like:

[Of the man who meditates:] He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he museth upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book (Charles H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Psalm 1).

Meditation chews the cud, and gets the sweetness and nutritive virtue of the Word into the heart and life: this is the way the godly bring forth much fruit (Author Unknown, from Spurgeon’s Treasury of David)

Few do it Well:

How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you – is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand – your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing belongs not to you (Charles H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Psalm 1).

The Ultimate Test of Character:

Meditation doth discriminate and characterize a man; by this he may take a measure of his heart, whether it be good or bad; let me allude to that; “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. As the meditation is, such is the man. Meditation is the touchstone of a Christian; it shows what metal he is made of. It is a spiritual index; the index shows what is in the book, so meditation shows what is in the heart (Thomas Watson).

Liberating Power:

But yet I must now say that, after all my searching and reading, prayer and assiduous meditation have been my only resort, and by far the most useful means of light and assistance. By these have my thoughts been freed from many an entanglement into which the writings of others had cast me or from which they could not deliver me (John Owen, Preface to Commentary on Hebrews).

No Excuses:

There is none so simple or busy, of so high place, or base condition, of so short memory, or quick capacity, such a babe in Christ, or so strong a Christian, that can exempt himself from this duty, unless he purpose to live unprofitably to others, uncomfortably to himself, and disobedience against God (John Ball, A Treatise on Divine Meditation).

You are already meditating even if you don’t realize it…Even worry is a form of meditation (Tim Keller, on Psalm 1).

A Meditation on Meditation from Psalm 1

The Gospel of John, in chapter 15, records Jesus words,

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (v. 4).

From these words, we see the idea set forth that ‘abiding’ in Christ, and Christ’s abiding in us, is essential for, and vital to, a Christian’s sanctification.

I find Michael Polanyi’s work on Personal Knowledge to be quite helpful in understanding the idea of abiding. Polanyi often referred to the idea of ‘indwelling’ as the means of true personal knowledge. Indwelling describes the act of ‘tuning in’ to an object of knowledge. From his experience as a scientist, he came to the conclusion that true knowledge did not essentially come from following particular methods of inquiry or perfectly performing experiments according to the scientific method, etc. Rather, this is only an aspect of knowledge (and a superficial one at that).

True knowledge, he argued, comes from actually indwelling the object of study. Mars Hill Audio’s program, Tacit Knowing, Truthful Knowing, devoted to Polanyi’s life and thought, uses the example of violin and cello makers to demonstrate the point. The great craftsmen, like Stradivarius, did not simply follow blueprints and methods. Rather, they worked by feel. But this working by feel was not random. Rather their work stemmed from the imitation of skilled workers (from studying as an apprentice, learning at the feet of a master) and through much careful thought and reflection, as well as hands on experience. All of this combined to create excellence.

All of this is a part of ‘abiding’ in an object. It stems from focused concentration, apprenticeship, imitation, and regular contemplation in order to ‘tune in’ to an object of knowledge. Since I have used the phrase ‘tune in’ a couple of times, let me illustrate its meaning like this (this is taken from Polanyi):

In order to have true working knowledge of a hammer (that is, to know it in such a way as to use it correctly), one must ‘indwell’ the hammer. That is, as one strikes a nail, he must almost forget that the hammer is even present. He assumes the hammer’s presence, but in reality, the hammer becomes, as it were, an extension of his own arm. That is tuning in, that is abiding.

The Scripture calls us to indwell Christ in much the same way. And this happens through discipleship, imitation, and meditation (all by the power and aid of the Holy Spirit), with the result of bearing fruit (sanctification).

Psalm 1 pronounces the man blessed who delights in, and meditates upon the ‘Law of the LORD’ day and night. The result of this is that

He shall be like a growing tree planted by the waterside
Which in its season yields its fruit and has a leaf that does not die (v. 3).

Christians must not accept the Buddhist idea of meditation. Meditation is not the emptying of the mind, or following a specific routine, or trying to reach a nirvana-like status. Rather, biblically –

Meditation is effortful contemplation on the Holy Scriptures (both in short bursts and sustained reasonings), with an aim toward the application of its teaching (read doctrine) to ourselves, our situation, and the world in which we live.

But this is not specific enough, so we must flesh it out:

The Psalmist writes that we are to meditate upon ‘the Law of the LORD.’ This entails not only the five books of Moses (though they are certainly intended as well), but all of the Scriptures – specifically as they relate to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ IS the blessed man of Psalm 1. He never so much as walked into sin (v. 1). Rather, he delighted in God’s Law and meditated upon it day and night (v. 2). And thus he spiritually prospered in he did (v. 3). Therefore Christ is the definitive example of the blessed man described here.

Yet he is not only our example, but also the object of meditation – for the Law of the LORD points to him. He is the Law-Giver. The Law is derived from His character. He is the purpose of the Law as well, being that the Law is meant to drive us to his perfect obedience in our behalf and his substitutionary sacrifice for our law breaking.

Therefore, the supreme object of of our meditation ought to be Jesus Christ – his person, his work, his gospel.

This, along with the imitation of Christ through discipleship, is the primary means God uses to sanctify his people, causing them to bear fruit. It is through the contemplation of Christ that his image is built up within us. It is through the focused attention and application of Christ to our own situations that the ‘leaf mould’ of our minds is formed around him, stamping his likeness upon us beginning from the inside.

Think much of Christ therefore. Think of his life and death. Think of his resurrection. Think of his glory. Think of his power and weakness, of his majesty and meekness, of his glory and grace, of his exaltation and humiliation. Think of his beauty, and holiness, and love. Think much of him.

This is not a burden. This is not a call that demands you become a scholar. Rather this is a joy and privilege. This is not a weight or a law under which you are yoked. Rather this is liberty. As the Apostle says, ‘the mind set on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.’ Tuning into Christ with our minds is being spiritually minded. And this is life and peace.

Use the mind YOU have, and use it for all its worth. In this there will be much glory and gain and gladness.

What a joy that God calls us not only to think, but to think of the most desirable object to which we might direct our thoughts. And that in beholding this object, Jesus Christ, we might be transformed ‘into that same glory, from one degree to another.’

Our blessedness comes through his blessedness, as we believe in him. And believing in him for justification, we now fill the mind with him unto sanctification. Would you have life and peace? Would you bear fruit? Would you prosper in all that you do? Then fix the mind on Christ. Abide in him as you tune in to him in the invisible world of the mind.

Isaac Watts on Improving the Use of Logic

Pages 69-77 give Watts first extended practical tips on improving our use of logic. They are summarized as follows:

1. Read, Experience, Learn Broadly (Do not spend all your time staying in one place or thinking about one thing)

2. Make it Stick
a. Meditate daily on what you have learned that day
b. Talk daily about what you have learned that day
c. Write regularly on the most important things you have learned that day
3. Do not waste time studying unprofitable things (Find what helps you and stick with it)
4. Organize your Thoughts and Writing
a. Organize thoughts by learning to meditate at length about one subject
i. Drive out unrelated thoughts by any means possible
b. Organize your writings by cataloging according to subject matter (this will allow for later reflection, correction and addition)

My thoughts: I deduce that a blog can be a very helpful means (as would a journal, or notebooks, or files) of collecting daily meditations and organizing thoughts based on subjects. Therefore I should more diligently commit myself to writing out my thoughts on a regular basis.