By meditating on the Word of God
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Ps. 1:2)
The Christians who love God love the word of God. And the Christians who love the word of God stay close to His Word. Therefore, he meditates on His word day and night. In Psalms 1:3, the Bible says the very blessed man’s delight is in the law of the Lord. In other words, the joy and dilight of the very blessed man is in the word of God. Therefore, those who are blessed to enjoy the word of God meditate on the word of God day and night (v. 2). Then what does it mean to meditate on God's Word? What is “meditation”? Meditation means hearing God's voice. As we read the Bible, we must listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us. We must diligently train ourselves to hear God’s voice through meditation on the word of God. And we must train ourselves to look at our lives from the point of view of God's Word. If we neglect this training, we will hear only the voices of the world or the voices of Satan or our own. Therefore, we must meditate diligently on the Word of God. The meditation time is a time when we are provided with the food we need for our soul. Therefore, we must think slowly and thoroughly. We must read and meditate on His word like a miner who digs gold. Then, what do we want to gain through meditating on God’s word?
First, we must get to know Jesus more and more by meditating on God’s word.
It is knowledge of Jesus that we seek while reading, hearing, studying and meditating on the word of God. The Bible is “His Story.” The Old Testament is the promise story of Messiah Jesus (Promise). And the New Testament is the story of Jesus who came to fulfill that promise (Fulfillment). To be more specific about the New Testament, the New Testament is the story of Jesus, who came to fulfill the Old Testament promise and died on the cross and arose from the dead on the third day for our salvation, the story of church after Jesus ascended to heaven, and the story of His second coming. Therefore, we must grow up in the knowledge of Jesus as we read, listen, study and meditate on God's word more and more every day. In the midst of that, when Jesus asks us, “But who do you say that I am,” we must be able to confess like Apostle Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:15, 16).
Second, we must imitate Heavenly Father’s heart by meditating on God’s word.
Not only is the Bible a story about Jesus Christ, but it shows us the heart of Heavenly Father who sent Jesus, the only begotten Son, to the earth, to give us the grace of salvation. Therefore, when we meditate on God's word as we delight in it, we must ponder what His word is trying to tell us about His heart. Sometime during the morning prayer, I meditated on the Word based on Psalm 103:13, and I realized a little bit about Heavenly Father's heart. At that time, the heart of Heavenly Father that I realized a little bit under the guidance of the Holy Spirit was the heart of Heavenly Father who has compassion on such sinner like me. The Bible says that Heavenly Father has compassion on those who fear Him, just as a father has compassion on his children (v. 13). The Bible says that Creator God has compassion on us who have to return to the earth due to sin and whose days are like grass and isn’t always angry, doesn’t deal with us according to our sins, and has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west (vv. 10-15). When I realized a little bit of Heavenly Father's heart in doing these to us, I prayed God because I wanted to imitate that Heavenly Father's heart. In the midst of that, I remember that Heavenly Father made me pray for my church members whom my Heavenly Father loves. I don’t want to do a shell ministry. I want to put my heart into the ministry with the heart of Heavenly Father who sees our hearts. How do you want to lead a family life, a work life, a church life, a life of faith? I hope and pray that we live a life of faith in imitating the Heavenly Father’s heart as we continue to understand the Father’s heart while meditating on the word of God.
Third and last, we must stand firm in faith and be victorious in spiritual battles by meditating on God’s word.
The Second Coming of Jesus is getting closer. Therefore, we have to anticipate it. We must anticipate the tribulation we will receive in the future. Satan knows that his time is short. So he is trying very hard to deceive us who believe in Jesus more and more. Satan is trying and striving to make us apostate Jesus away from faith. We must prepare. We must stand firm in our faith to fight spiritual battles against Satan. Then, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, we will be able to confess, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
Wanting to experience the power of God’s word even more,
James Kim
(Only the Word of God!)