Biblical Meditation

(Prov 15:26 NIV) The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him.

This morning we continue our current series, In this verse Solomon reminds us that we serve a God who looks past our outward appearance (that may fool others) and interrogates the content and quality of our heart (see 1st Sam 16:7).

Where this translation uses the word “detests,” other translations use the word “hate.” The Father hates the practice of those who sit around devising evil schemes all day. Why? Because they have perverted the power of meditation. Jehovah gave us an imagination so that we could use it as a tool to walk by faith.

In the Book of Psalms Solomon’s father David wrote: “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night” (Ps 1:1,2).

Joshua shared with us something Jehovah told him as he prepared to lead the nation of Israel into the several battles that would be required to conquer Canaan. I call it, “The formula for Godly success.” It reads:

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

These two passages, along with the many others that support them, drive home the power of meditation.

The world has been attempting to tap into this power lately with teachings on positive thinking, silent meditation, and etc. Why? Because they realize the fact that meditation is powerful. If you meditate on something long enough it will get down in your spirit. Once it does, it will become a reality to you, on the inside, well before it actually manifests itself in the natural.

In other words, when you truly meditate something, when the image of it becomes so real to you on the inside that you literally see yourself becoming it, then what happens is that you literally “receive” it in your heart well before you ever “see” it in your hands. This is how we are to walk by faith.

When we meditate the scriptures we start to imagine ourselves as the victors and not the victims, the winners and not the losers, the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. We see ourselves the way God desires for us to see ourselves and our meditation will give birth to thoughts, ideas, plans, goals, vision, and etc.

When you understand this you realize why worry is a sin. Worry is a form of negative meditation. When you worry you develop an image of failure in your heart so strong that it becomes a reality to you, and your inner image takes you down the road of bringing the failure to pass.

God expects us to use the power of meditation, the power of developing an image on the inside of us, to help develop faith (not fear), hope (not despair), and belief (not doubt).

This takes me back to our text. Can you see why the Lord detests the practice of those who use this power to devise evil schemes? Why sit around all day and plan to do wrong? Why devise wicked imaginations? This is obviously NOT pleasing to God and those who do – who use the power of meditation for evil instead of good – are people that can’t help but cause strife.

So what does this mean to you? It means that you are who you THINK that you are. You will become who you SEE yourself as in your future. Don’t use the power of meditation for evil; use it the way the Father intended for it to be used. Meditate God’s Word, develop a prosperous self-image, and your life will change from the inside out!

Father, I thank You for Your Word and I obey it! I meditate Your Word day and night. I get Your Word down in my spirit so strong that I truly believe that all things are possible for me, because I walk with You. If you are for me, then I know that You are bigger than the entire world against me. You are on my side and there is nothing that I cannot do when I am walking with You. I see myself as You desire for me to see myself. I align my opinion of me with Your opinion of me and my Biblical meditation gives birth to thoughts, ideas, plans, goals, and vision. I walk by faith and not by sight! In Jesus’ name. Amen!