Starts in the Heart

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Southeast Christian Church

Mar 23, 2023

What comes to your mind when you think of meditation? Maybe it's thoughts of Eastern mysticism or a part of a yoga class. But that's not how the Bible defines biblical meditation. Pastor and author Rich Villodas says this, “Biblical meditation is defined as chewing on the Scripture, and the words, and the truth of God, so that they penetrate our hearts.”

There are two beautiful word pictures that come with meditation from the original Hebrew language. One is of a beautiful resounding song. David is describing that when he reads the Scriptures, there's a song playing in his heart. The other word picture that's given is muttering or musing. Isaiah paints the picture of a lion that is freshly killed its prey, and the lion is so excited to partake in this meal. It's roaring and it's growling with pride over this meal. Whether it's a song in his heart or if he's tasting Scripture in a manner that draws forth this passionate response, David is painting the picture of someone who has learned to sit with in delight in God's Scripture because it's more precious than gold and sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.

We, as followers of Jesus in the 21st century, need to know what it means to not just read the Scripture, but what it means to actually meditate on Scripture. Sociologists will tell us we've been hardwired and programmed in our culture to approach information or reading from what is defined as an informational reading response, where we have skim, speed read, and paraphrase. We read in a self-serving or transactional way, and we come to the material to get what we need, and then we leave it behind and move on to what's next. And if we're not careful, like that same mindset can spill into our time with the Bible.

Reflection/Discussion Question: What steps do you need to take today to move from informational reading to meditation when it comes to Scripture?

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