The solution to busyness

We are faced with enemies in our lives that we often do not recognize.  The enemies I am talking about are noise, hurry, and busyness.  Any of these things can attack us at any moment and distract our minds.

“Hurry is not of the Devil; it is the Devil.” Carl Jung

Constantly every day we are bombarded with busyness.  And the busyness that surrounds us distracts us and makes our lives feel crowded.

These distractions plague us so that our minds and hearts are cluttered.

These distraction hinder us from hearing the still quiet voice of God.

What is the solution?

The solution is the discipline of meditation.

Now when I say meditation, most people something like sitting in some uncomfortable position with your hands on your knees and making a humming sound while trying to empty your mind.

Is that what meditation is from a Christian standpoint?

No!  Let’s look at what the bible has to say about mediation.  To do this I want to examine Joshua 1:6-9.  We are going to see what God tells Joshua to do and why He wants him to meditate and consider what meditation is from a Biblical standpoint.

Let’s start with a bit of background to the book of Joshua.  In this section, of Joshua, Moses has died and now Joshua is the leader of Israel who is going to lead them into the Promised Land.

They have been in the desert for 40 years so that the unbelieving generation had died off.  Now God has called upon Joshua to lead the people and this is going to require great courage and obedience to the Lord.

Here is what God says to Joshua:

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:6-9

What is Meditation?

Now from this passage of Scripture, we don’t get the sense that the Lord is telling Joshua to sit in some lotus position with his hands on his knees day and night, do we?

No, that is certainly not what the Lord is communicating.  In fact, instead of emptying our mind, like we might hear in some of the eastern religions like Buddhism, meditation from a biblical standpoint is about focusing our mind.

In fact, when we look back at the Hebrew word translated as “meditate” we find that it can mean to murmur, ponder, devise, muse, imagine or plot.  It is about thinking and going over something in your mind.

So a definition of meditation is:

Thinking and/or dwelling upon a subject or series of subjects to seek greater understanding of the subject.

It is going over something in your mind over and over.

Meditation is connected to, yet different from Bible study and prayer.  In Bible study we are seeking to learn what the Bible says.  In prayer, we are looking to communicate with God and draw close to Him.

In meditation, we are seeking to take what we have learned and have it cemented inside of us so that we constantly have His word and our knowledge of Him with us.  Meditation is thinking about a subject to seek greater understanding.

What do we meditate on?

I am sure there are many of us who have lived out the definition of meditation, but not from a standpoint that the Bible speaks of.

I am sure there are times we have thought and dwelt upon things and gone over and over it in our minds, but it has really not benefited us.  That is because a negative form of what we have defined as meditation is worry.

If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Rick Warren

The difference is, in meditation that the Bible speaks of, we don’t think about the negative things that may occur; instead, we focus and think about some specific things that will be a help to us.

God tells Joshua in the first part of 1 of chapter 8:

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night”

We meditate on God’s Word

As we study God’s word, we need to take time to think about it.

How do we do that?

When we read a passage or section of Scripture, we need to take time to ask questions to ourselves about it.

We need to read it over and over.

We need to commit it to memory and as we do that, we seek to truly understand its meaning in the context of the passage and in the context of our lives.

We need to ask questions as we think about it.  Questions like:

• Why did this person or people need to hear what the Lord was speaking to them?
• How did people respond to hearing that?
• How did they apply what they heard, if at all?
• What were the affects of following or not following?
• What is God trying to teach me in this verse?
• Is this view in accordance with the rest of Scripture?
• Is there anything I need to do today or this week in light of what this says?

We need to mediate on God’s word and think about it, dwell upon it and its effect on our life.

Too often, I will read something in Scripture and not think about it and forget later in the day what I have even read because I didn’t think about it and meditate upon it.

James says 1:25 says:

“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Meditation helps us not forget what we have heard from God’s word and to store it away inside of us.

We meditate on God’s Works

Psalm 77:12 says:

“I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

We are to dwell upon and think about the things God has done, His mighty works.  His work of creation, His works throughout history.  We can read about these in God’s word.

But, we also need to also mediate on the works that the Lord has done in our lives.

So often we forget when God has answered a prayer, helped us overcome a trial. We need to think on that, meditate on His mighty deeds.

It is important for us to think back over our lives and look at the milestones and markers and see how they are fitting together and see how God has in fact used those things and directed our lives to lead us to where we may be today.

It is also helpful to remember how God may not have answered something in the way you wanted at the time, but to look back now and see how God may have used that to direct you to where you are today.

Those are the times that we get to see how God can work all things for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) We may not always understand in the moment, but many times we can see as we think back and remember and meditate on it.

That ultimately, helps us go forward with the Lord, to be strong and courageous when we don’t understand in the moment, but we have come to know our God and His love and His mighty works in our life. Ultimately, we know that all the works God does are good and right.

What does meditation do?

According to this passage in Joshua, meditation has a number of effects in our lives.

1. Meditation helps us to be strong and courageous.

Three times in this passage, God instructs Joshua that he needs to be strong and courageous.  Now, we can’t be strong and courageous for God in ourselves.

To be strong and courageous for what God wants us to do, we need to have close relationship with Him.

It is imperative that we are close and trust God when He is leading us because we know of His love for us and how He cares for us.

2. Meditation helps us to be obedient.

We need to be strong and courageous knowing what God’s word tells us to do so that we can be obedient to His word.  Joshua 1:8 says:

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, {Why?} so that you may be careful to do everything written in it [so we will be obedient to it].”

There are things we can read in God’s word and know what it says, but often we don’t want to think about it because it is hard.

We can see in God’s word that we are at times called to sacrifice, but that is hard.

We can see in God’s word that we are called to serve, but we don’t because it means changing schedules or other priorities.

When we meditate on God and His word, it helps us be strong and courageous to be obedient to Him knowing He is good and directing us well.

3. Meditation helps us be successful.

Successful how?

Successful in what the Lord is calling us to do.

Successful in living life to the full, in living life abundantly, in experiencing the fullness of life

Now this success is not necessarily monetarily.  Instead it is successful in accomplishing all that God has in mind for us and experiencing closeness with Him.

Being successful is going through life accomplishing His will.

Being successful means hearing the words,

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23)

Being successful means experiencing the fulfillment that only comes through following the Lord and being blessed.

The challenge

Try meditating for this next month.  Find a time in your day that you can block off and practice meditating on scripture.  Try to meditate between four and seven times each week.

Here are some suggested Scriptures to start with:

• Gospel Stories: John 2:1-12 The wedding at Cana and John 12:1-8 Mary anointing Jesus’ feet
• Jesus’ Teaching: John 10:11-18, 27-28 My sheep hear my voice
• Epistle Teaching: James 3:14-18 True wisdom and Ephesians 3:14-21 Prayer for deep wisdom
• Psalms: Psalm 121 God our faithful guardian

Remember, if we want to prosper in our life for the Lord, then we need to take some time and meditate on His word and His works so that we can be strong and courageous, so we can walk in obedience and live a successful life in the Lord.

Do you practice the discipline of meditation?

***** This is a synopsis of a sermon that I preached at Port Hardy Baptist Church.  It is part 2 of 8 in a series called “Sacred Ryhtyms.”

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