Introduction to These Studies About "Meditation"

A few comments about this group of studies.

1. The Christian desires that his thoughts be pleasing to God.
   • Psalm 19:14; 2 Corinthians 10:5
      
2. Both Old & New Testaments have a God-centered theme. Both encourage us to think about God and his works.
   • In this study, our focus will be on the Old Testament verses that are often translated with the word meditation or meditate.
     
   • Other verses in the Old Testament are also relevant, even though they use other words, such as: think, consider, ponder, reflect, etc.
     
   • The same concept ("thinking about things") occurs many times in the New Testament, though the word meditate is not present. Philippians 4:8, which focuses on our thinking in general, is an example.
     
   • A CHALLENGE: Look for other verses which are not mentioned in this study - verses that use other words to describe how we should think.
      
3. Why this focus on God? It might be easiest to explain using an illustration:

   • According to Matthew 22:36-40, our greatest obligation is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. After that comes our second greatest obligation, love for our "neighbor" (which includes our enemies). Both duties are required by us, but they must be done in this order: God first and neighbor second. This is because love for God defines love for neighbor.
   • It is the same way with what we are to meditate (think) on: Meditation on God and on his Word comes first, then comes our focus on the other things we do. Both are necessary, but the first defines the significance of the second. This study focuses primarily on our first obligation.

Dennis Hinks © 1996, 2004
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