Steep Your Soul with Christian Meditation

0:00 We have this discipleship journal, Navigator's Bible reading plan that we love at Desiring God and many of us are on that plan. So I opened my Bible this morning and I found my sweet assignment for the day is Psalm 63. This is March 16th, every year, Psalm 63. Psalm of David when he's in the wilderness. and so I read in verse 1 my soul thirsts for you as in a dry and weary land where there's no water and then verse 5 my soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food so my question is how will a soul thirst and a soul hunger be satisfied verse two psalmist says so i have looked upon you in the sanctuary what is that did he sneak into the holy of holies he's talking about the wilderness the wilderness has become a sanctuary for him. I've looked on you, beholding your power and glory.

1:25 I want to do that. I know you want to do that. So another question for David is, how do you do that? How do you look and behold? Verse 6, I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night. So there it is. Meditation. which got talked about and brought us into a little bit and maybe you're thinking it'd be good to know some more about that that's what we're trying to do here in this last session so what what happens here with David after this meditation we see that his soul clings to God verse 8 and he sings for joy verse 7 he rejoices in God verse 11 and then in David all who swear by him exult. Other people get joy along with them. Verse 11. And that's all because David in the wilderness beholds God's power and his glory through meditation. So that's my assignment here to finish up our evening together. And when I say meditation, I'm not talking Eastern meditation.

2:45 You know what Eastern meditation is? Basically, empty your mind. Try to achieve some sort of peace in the nothingness. Biblical meditation is, what do you say, precisely the opposite? Fill your mind with what God himself says and how God himself leads your mind and soul with the guidance of his word and his Holy Spirit dwelling in you, that you might find peace and joy in the filling.

3:26 And this Hebrew word for meditate that we have here in Psalm 63, verse 6, it means something like to ruminate, to reflect on, to muse. You might say, in a positive sense, to stew on something. Sometimes we use that language in a negative way. He's stewing on it. He's focused on it. He can't get beyond it. It should be a positive stewing. If you stay on something, you keep your mind stayed on something, or abide. Your mind might abide, remain, stay on something for a few moments. Instead of continuing to move, you pause and you stay on it. that's the command that's given to Joshua in this amazing transition moment in the history of Israel I mean Moses the great Moses is off the scene Joshua is now supposed to lead the people and his directive in Joshua 1 8 is this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night and I hope that some here and remember pastors when we talk about meditation think about the first psalm this is the way the psalter opens and that the key word in psalm 1 verse 2 blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the lord and on his law he meditates day and night so biblical meditation involves fixing the mind's attention on God through his revealed word that we might stir up God honoring affections.

5:08 So this thing's terminating on the heart. That's where it's going. And that focus on the heart, on the affections and enjoying God in Jesus Christ is very important. I don't think it's Christian meditation without it. And that's what distinguishes meditation from Bible reading and Bible study and part of what distinguishes it from prayer and from external application of the Bible to our lives. Scott read how Mueller commended not the simple reading of the word, he said so that it only passes through our minds just as water runs through a pipe but considering what we read pondering over it and applying it to the heart he wasn't applying it yet to the external life it wasn't a to-do list coming out of his quiet time yet first it was applying it to the heart so to summarize an older voice do you know father brockle he's not catholic Don't worry. Father Brockle, Wilhelmus Abrockle, Dutch Reformed minister, pastor theologian.

6:26 He uses a series of active verbs to talk about what Christian meditation is. Let's summarize that for you. He says, in meditation, the soul reflects upon, reasons about, approves of, delights in, and is astonished about God himself and his things. What he's revealed. Christian meditation begins with God's revelation. Not us by ourselves. Empty the brain. Begins with God speaking in his book. and then meditation is our reflection, reasoning, approving of, delighting in and being astonished by what God says to us in his book. Or, I'm gonna quote a more recent voice here.

7:20 This is Matthew Bingham. He's still alive as far as I know. Teaches at Phoenix Seminary. Published this excellent book just last year called Heart of Flame. he defines meditation as directing one's attention toward God and his promises as revealed in scripture with the aim of stirring up God honoring affections. He's getting that from the Puritans. We'll see that in a minute. So reading scripture. We talk about reading first. Reading is the most basic and fundamental thing you do with a text. Written text, you read it. Studying scripture is a way of overcoming informational, intellectual, integrational barriers so that you might understand what the text is saying. And it's necessary inferences. Study is a means to something else. You're building knowledge. You're doing something else when you're studying. Meditation is much more like a means on its own.

8:29 It seeks to enjoy God in the moment, in real time. This morning, I want to enjoy him this morning or this afternoon. I'm coming to enjoy him. And one way to talk about meditation is that it is the internal application of God's word to our soul. If you really want to do application as you sit before a Bible, The Puritans would say, oh yes, do application. Apply it to your heart. Seek to enjoy God in it. Yes, meditation, it'll lead you to external acts, beginning with prayer, after meditation, and then various resolves of the will for loving good works, that you would apply God's word to your external life. But meditation is first concerned to apply God's word to the inner person, to the soul, through the mind, to the heart, with prayer then being the first response to the word of God received in meditation.

9:34 The Puritans talked about meditation as a bridge discipline, a bridge between two things, between Bible reading on the one hand and prayer. This is Thomas Manton, which another, this is 2025 Puritan Treasure, edited by Stephen Yule. Amazing. It's called Holy Meditation by Thomas Manton. Here's what Manton has to say about this bridge discipline. Meditation is a middle sort of duty between the word and prayer. And it has respect to both. So the word feeds meditation and meditation feeds prayer. so meditation follows hearing of God's word and precedes prayer back to God there's a relational dynamic going on here there's communion with God we hear from him first there's that priority Scott talked about with Mueller we hear from him in his word and then in meditation we hear it all the way down not just run through it quick hard pivot to prayer pray the lists rather I want to hear from him in his word and hear it all the way down to the heart feel the significance of it and then in light of what God's saying in his word pray to him respond in prayer in relationship so there's a proper order here among bible reading and meditation and prayer which that shapes a little arc that helps me when I come to the bible in the morning it's got this little arc I think of it as beginning with Bible open the word, begin with reading begin with Bible, move to meditation and then polish with prayer there's a kind of sequence from reading God's word to lingering over an aspect of his word, meditating on it and then having that issue in prayer and this talk about meditation sounds strange

11:39 to you, maybe you've thought I've hardly heard about this but a few apps and mindfulness training out there that has nothing to do with Jesus. If it's strange to you, you're probably not alone. This is from Father Brockle in the late 17th century. He said, meditation is the secret art which is practiced but little. That's 17th century. manton four centuries ago he lamented that we live in days of action and commotion we think that we have so much to do and as a result too few of us desire to converse with god i mean if that were true in the puritan days what about today whatever the causes of our action and commotion and so little desire to commune with god I suspect there are many our anxious generation has special need to rediscover this lost art that it would both hold back the faith eroding tides of modern life and feed our joy for spiritual health and thriving in the Christian life and perhaps of all people pastors would need and be blessed by this most that we might carry Mueller like pressure as Scott talked about the Puritans did talk about two different kinds of meditation there is the deliberate meditation it's planned it's habitual probably in the morning it's like a daily anchor point for resetting the mind and for stirring up godly affections and then they also talked about what they called sudden or occasional or extemporal or spontaneous meditation. And that you come across something in life and you turn your mind Godward.

13:43 You have an occasion where your normal life, your occupation, your family, the natural world turns your mind Godward that you might meditate in a moment on the glory of God as seen in creation or life. My focus here in these last few minutes is on the deliberate meditation, the planned meditation, habitual, morning meditation over the book that hopefully resets the mind and engages the heart and makes us fruitful in ministry to walk in joy for the day. And my two biggest influences on this under God, think about over the years, it's George Mueller and it's John Piper. Probably Piper pointed me to that Mueller journal entry, first. And so to be able to share some thoughts here after hearing about Mueller and to hear from Piper is significant. However, I don't just put it on the two of them. I think that after these years, there's an important sense in which scripture teaches this sort of approach that we're talking about here. Not only in what scripture explicitly commands and the examples it gives, but also in its very nature, in its divine origin and composition and its preservation, and in the fact that this book, unlike any other book, is the very word of God.

15:16 you might ask, what kind of engagement does a mass market beach read demand? Or you might say, what kind of perusing does a magazine invite? Or you might say, what about a webpage? What should a webpage demand of me? Or how about a classic book that survived for generations? That's more significant. But then you ask at the end, what about the living word of the living God? How should I engage that? What kind of reading would be fitting with the living word of the living God?

16:05 That's what we're talking about in meditation. if we would only pause to ask that question and answer it with authenticity and adjust our lives and create life-giving, heart-protecting, joy-deepening habits. And instead of reading the Bible like we carelessly, sloppily, hurriedly read other texts in our lives, we would come a long way toward engaging the word like the word commends, like the Puritans celebrated, like some people call meditation. You don't have to call it that. But that's where the Bible itself leads us to engage it. in one sense this almost lost art of meditation is just how bible intake grows and deepens over time in a soul that really believes this book is the word of god and really believes that he means to satisfy our souls and give us joy in this book and if that's true then you'll learn to read it in certain soul-warming, soul-feeding ways.

17:21 So, meditation is the timeless answer to the question, how do I receive a book from God that is for his glory through my joy in him? And at this point, I know some are saying, thinking this, all right, great, just tell me how to do it. Just want to do it, give me the secrets. The Bible commands it, that commends it. How do I do it? If you ask a Catholic mystic how to meditate, they will be very happy to tell you all sorts of ways to do it. How many hours you got? How many days you got? How many weeks you have? They can give you a list you can work through for weeks to tell you exactly how to meditate. They're happy to add instructions to the scripture if it seems like we need something extra.

18:17 but if you ask a Protestant or you ask a Puritan, they will be much more careful in their counsel about how to meditate. So Father Brockle says this. Again, not a Catholic father. Dutch Reformed. He says, I do not wish to prescribe rules to you. begin with it and you will experience yourself which way is best for you crazy freedom from a dutch reformed minister and theologian or here's thomas manton do not bridle up the free spirit by rules of method we do not prescribe but advise that's that's puritan meditation. Not prescribed. There's counsel. There's advice. And here's how I want to use these last few minutes. Not by giving you rules that the Puritans wouldn't give you, but to gather together some of the ways, some of the many images that they use to try to communicate a sense of what we're pursuing in meditation. They give us pictures. And the Concrete images are helpful.

19:44 And you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and with the leading of God's word, you can figure this out. You can do this. You can move in this direction and learn the lost art and experience yourself which way is best for you. So, some concrete images to get you going in the right direction. First image, one main Bible image from Psalm 1, the well-watered tree. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

20:28 So the two key words, key verbs of action there are delight and meditates. The one who delights in the word meditates on it with the implied implication that in that meditating, the delight will sweeten and deepen so that meditation will feed delight. And delight will seek meditation. And meditation will feed delight. It's one thing for a tree to receive a downpour of rain like we receive today. Some of it rolls off the surface. Some gets down to the roots. Far better than occasional rain is being planted right by a stream. So that every day, every moment the roots can absorb water from the stream.

21:28 That's what's being commended here in Psalm 1. You have the word. God's revealed himself. We have access. We have a stream to park ourselves by. We don't have to wait for the occasional rains. We can be watered daily, not irregularly. Now, over the years, I've worked on some of my own images of meditation. I don't have time for those. Steeping a teabag, that's one of them, for Southerners who do love their sweet tea. You got to put the teabag in there, let it steep. Or the kinds of yard work that you would do and then celebrate at the end with lemonade. That's like meditation. The different ways you might watch a movie in regular speed or slow-mo or freeze frame. The example from Exodus 16 of gathering a day's portion. You're not there to build your whole theological education every time you open the Bible.

22:24 Just gather a day's portion. How would he feed you today? Gather a day's portion. And then the Puritans have other images that I'm going to be able to share here. Climbing the stairs. Inspecting a house. Opening a hatch to let in air. reading sacred letters for happiness, distilling spirits. If anybody knows what an alembic is,

22:47 you heat up the alembic and it separates the liquids, you distill the spirits, and that's a Puritan image for spontaneous meditation. That there is a kind of mindset, a kind of heart with its affection stirred in Jesus that it might encounter life and distill Godward meditations that feed the soul, even in spontaneous situations. But as I gathered these Puritan images here in the last couple weeks, two main categories emerged. And one of these categories has been my go-to over the years. The other one was, it was fresh. It was new. I'm thankful for this. So I want to lean in to this second category more, and I hope these are helpful for you as you experience yourself, which is best for you as you put yourself to morning meditations.

23:43 Number one, here's the first macro image. It's the image of warming. that's the one that's fresh to me Thomas Watson might have captured this most memorably. He says, warm yourself at the fire of meditation. That's general. Warm yourself at the fire of meditation. You can get more specific. So some Puritans would talk about the fireplace. that the temperature of our hearts rises and falls like the fire in a fireplace. And as the fire burns, so it burns up the fuel. And the fire eventually burns down to the embers. And meditation is like tending to the fire. Keep the fire going.

24:41 Keep it hot. Not let it burn down to the embers and burn out. add fuel to the fire. And in this fireplace image, several Puritans mentioned bellows. Who might remember bellows? Many people still have bellows. There's so many natural gas logs nowadays. We don't know fireplaces like we once did. Bellows is that bag-like instrument. You expend it and contract it. It feeds oxygen to intensify a fire. So Isaac Ambrose said, Meditation is the bellows of the soul that kindles and inflames holy affections. Manton said ponderous thoughts, that's meditative thoughts, are the bellows that kindle the affections. They inflame those latent sparks of grace that are in the soul.

25:34 He says, ply the bellows and blow hard. And then William Bates. he even points out that meditation is like building a fire from wet wood he talks of persisting in it and don't give up too quickly don't let him go till he blesses you he says meditate ordinarily till you find some sensible benefit conveyed to your soul I think it's really helpful some sensible benefit that doesn't mean bliss that may happen sometimes that can be rebuke from God some warning some new holy fear of God but some sensible benefit conveyed to the soul persist he says till the flame doth ascend Or sometimes they would talk about boiling water.

26:36 George Swinnick said, meditation to the word is what fire is to water. Though water be naturally so cold, yet put fire under it and it will make it hot and boiling. so though your heart be cold in regard of affection to the word but put this fire meditation under it and it will boil with love many of us have tried and not stayed next to the fire long enough to have the heat by the power of the spirit communicated manton our hearts are naturally cold but meditation makes them hot causing them to boil with love for god and his word and just a side note here brothers as in a room full of fellow preachers i'm assuming many preachers here since the pastor's gathering the most important preparation on Sunday morning is not the final preparation of the sermon the most important preparation on Sunday morning is the preparation of the heart of the preacher it is so helpful to meditate on some other text than the one you're about to do public ministry with so that you're preoccupied by fixing this and that in the sermon to set aside some time i just just want to meet with the lord in this text and then i'll preach and if i don't do and i don't cross every T and dot every I, God will take care of that. It's more important that my soul is ready than that these last little bits of the message is ready. Another warming image, wax. This is George Swinnick again. When your heart is like wax hardened, bring it by meditation to the warm beams of the sun and they will soften it. Or like a bird warming the eggs, manton. When the bird

28:43 leaves her nest and is absent for a long time. The eggs grow cold and do not hatch. Likewise, our desires grow cold and dull without meditation. So warming over and over, these different metaphors, there's a warming metaphor that is consistent in the Puritans. Another one then, the second one is feeding. And we heard some of this from Mueller. Chewing, tasting. And this is the one I have found so helpful over the years. Faith will starve, says Manton, unless it is fed by continual meditation on God's promises. Samuel Ward, stir up your soul in meditation to commune with Christ. Look what promises and privileges you do habitually believe. Now, actually think of them. roll them under your tongue chew on them till you feel some sweetness on the palate of your soul so take what you already believe and then now seek to actually believe it by experiencing it in the heart tasting it finding sweetness in it honey is to be savored not rushed through I did not grow up on a farm and have not spent much time on farms but when I have seen cows chewing the cud I have not witnessed one that seemed to be in a hurry they seem to be taking their time with it and so it is with the feeding of meditation one of my favorite images is from Edmund Calamey the honey bee he says be like the bee that dwells and abides upon the flower to suck out all the sweetness which sounds like Mueller saying I searched into every verse to get some blessing out of it

30:50 that was his prevailing image, that image of feeding talked about seeking food for his own soul and that his meditation was not for the sake of public ministry not for the sake of preaching on what i had meditated upon but for the sake of obtaining food for my soul That approach is just so consumerist in one sense. Is it not?

31:24 It's a wholly consumerist approach. You might say it is a Christian hedonist approach. he says he continually keeps before himself that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation so one last image here from manton manton says joy and delight are fed by meditation for meditation turns god's promises into food and then manton quotes psalm 63 verses five and six. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night.

32:25 Which brings us back to our pursuit of God and our joy in him. And turning the thirst and the hunger of our souls to God for satisfaction by beholding his power and glory and doing that through meditating on his word. I know the unfamiliar can sound complicated and that there's a but there is a real simplicity in meditation one way we might sum it up is to say be a Christian hedonist with God's word when you open the Bible in the morning you're there for gain Here we go. when you seek to get your soul happy in him you want to taste some sensible benefit you come to warm your cold heart you come to eat and drink and feast to satisfy spiritual hunger and thirst and amazingly God is honored when we come to him like that when we come like a hedonist and say, I'm here to feed on you, God.

33:43 I'm here to be warmed, my cold soul to be warmed. Oh God, you're my God. Earnestly I seek you, like a thirsty soul seeking water, like a hungry soul wanting food. That's why I'm coming to the book this morning. brothers you were made for this and you have the word and if you are in christ you have the holy spirit you can figure this out begin with it and you will experience yourself which way is best for you set aside enough margin to be unhurried find a quiet place and block out distractions and open God's word with some modest plan and follow its order and the leading of the spirit and look for places to slow down and go deep.

34:41 And unless you leave with the wrong impression here tonight that this secret art and its joys are inaccessible to ordinary Christians and pastors, let me echo this clarifying word from Matthew Bingham. He says, in meditation, we are really not doing anything more complicated than slowing down and reflecting honestly on the ways that biblical ideas intersect with our own hearts and lives. There is a sweet simplicity to it. Our aim is to enjoy the true God and the real Jesus, crucified and risen. alive and reigning. We want to commune with him and experience the thrill of marveling at him and knowing him and lingering in awe before him so that our hearts might be warmed and fed and that we might go in peace and with joy into our callings.

35:48 Let me pray for us. So Father in heaven, would you grant brothers in this room sweet confirmation in their Christian hedonist approach to your book or fresh encouragement to pursue joy in your word. I pray that we would, like these Puritans, learn over time to bring an approach to your word that would indeed warm the soul, that would indeed give us joy and set our hearts and minds in a frame for your service and our blessing. So would you give us your grace, Father, as we approach your word like this and go from this place here in a few minutes. In Jesus' name, Amen.