Meditation: What It Looks Like

As Richard Foster says, meditation is the ability to hear God's voice and obey God's word. How does this happen? We do this through prayerful rumination upon God, his Word, and his world by, “making the words of the bible personal by memorizing them and repeating them, with deep and simple concentration, 'from the heart'". Let's unpack these elements, so that we can gain a greater understanding of how this all looks.

First, let us discuss the hearing and obeying. 1 Samuel 3 details for us the ability of Eli to know when God was speaking and to hear the voice of God. Also, someone look at 1 Kings 19, where Elijah gets to the place where he can hear the still small voice of God. The great thing is that we serve a God who is still in the business of speaking to his people.

Second, let us park on the word “ruminate”. Merriam-Webster defines it two ways. First, it says, “to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly; secondly, to chew repeatedly for an extended period.” Read Joshua 1:7, 8. What do you understand here? We see that God commands that book of law is to be on their lips. In essence, they are supposed to be able to chew on God's word and regurgitate it to their children. Look also at Psalm 34:8. The bible tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good. As we chew on the Word, we get to experience the different "flavors" of God. Does that help in our definition of meditation? Have I made this too insurmountable? Stay with me, please.

Lastly, how do we make the word personal? Read Psalm 119:11. The writer says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." We hide in the innermost place--our heart. It needs to invade our lives in all aspects.

I hope this helps. I don't know if I have given you stuff for discussion. I thank you for letting me start the conversation. I want to hear your thoughts. Stay tuned for the next installment -- how to approach meditation.