The Word is Your Life, part 3
Loving God's Word is the Path to the Full Life
Psalm 1
David Taylor
September 21, 2014
We are in the third of our four week fall series, “The Word is Your Life,” to help us see and feel the necessity of making the word central in our lives. We started out by looking at the centrality of the word in our lives and I challenged you to read the New Testament in sixty days. Then last week we looked at Psalm one and saw the necessity of committing the word to memory so I challenged you to memorize the word. Today we look at Psalm one again, “Loving God's Word is the Path to Life,” looking specifically at meditating on the word, then next week we will end this series by looking at sharing the word with one another.
Let me outline the psalm before we read it today. The psalmist outlines the way of the godly and the wicked. The godly love Gods word so they commit it to memory to meditate on it any time they want. The result is that their lives are stable, fruitful, and durable. In contrast the wicked love this present evil age, all that stands opposed to God and so will face God's judgement. So lets read Psalm one.
Big Idea – The path to life and salvation consists of loving God and saturating yourself with his word.
Today I want to challenge you to spend regular time meditating on the word. I want to start with the picture the psalmist gives of the blessed person who meditates on the word to heighten our need before we look at how to meditate on the word.
1. Saturate Myself With the Word for a Fruitful Life (v. 3-5)
'He is like a tree planted by streams of water' points to both strength and stability. So the first characteristic of those who meditate on the word is that they are strong and stable. The tree is strong and stable because its roots go deep by the streams, its source of life and nourishment. The next characteristic of those who meditate on the word is that they are productive, producing fruit in season. Fruitful people are spiritually refreshing and nourishing to be around, you find strength and encouragement and wisdom when you talk to them. They are fruitful because they have planted themselves by streams of water; they memorize the word and give themselves to meditating on it. The next characteristic of those who mediate on the word is that they are durable. They do not wither or crumble when the storms and struggles of life come. To summarize he says he prospers in all that he does. Maybe your lack of fruitfulness is because you are not meditating on the word and the so the word is not penetrating your heart. We have looked at the characteristics of the life that meditates on the word, now lets look at how to meditate.
2. Saturate Myself With the Word by Meditating on the Word (v. 2)
'His delight is in the law of Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.' We delight in what we love, and what we love we put our minds to it. The godly person delights in God's word and it leads him to mediate on the word day and night. And the reason he can mediate on the word at any given moment is because he has committed it to memory. Last week looked at memorizing the word so for the rest of today we will look at meditating on the word.
To meditate on the word means to think about and reflect on it. The goal is to gain understanding and to also raise your affections for God, what Jonathan Edwards called affectional knowledge. This is a means of grace in which God can give you understanding and recalibrate your heart. Let me walk you through how I meditate on the word.
• First, set aside a regular time. Scripture commands us to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to take our spiritual growth seriously, not casually or in a cavalier manner. Almost anything you do in life benefits from regular and consistent attention. So make time for a regular time with the Lord. I recommend morning because I think there is scriptural support for it but I will not be dogmatic about it.
• Second, set aside a regular place. Find a quiet spot, where you can be alone and uninterrupted. Get rid of all distractions, including your smart phone, computer, etc.
• Third, establish a routine. Start out asking God to open your eyes that you may see wondrous things out of his law and then ask him to incline your heart to his word. Then read a section of Scripture. I read several chapters and meditate on the section that struck me. If nothing strikes me then I meditate on the first paragraph I read. I start reading through it several times slowly, emphasizing different words as I read. I look for flow of thought, repeated words, connecting words, and theological concepts. I look for themes that connect to other scriptures. I will often rewrite the passage in my own words. Then I ask God, what are you saying to me from this passage? Lastly, I turn to God in prayer and worship.
The key to meditating is delighting in God; key to delighting in God is meditating on the word. If you do not delight in God or his word, then you will not meditate. Jonathan Edwards said that 'true religion disposes a person to be much in solitary places for holy meditation and prayer.' So if you don't delight in the word or don't enjoy reading there could be two reasons. The first is that maybe you have not really experienced salvation. The other reason may be is that the Christian life is not always better than the day before. We don't always desire God or his word; worse yet we desire other things more than God like TV or movies, novels, Xbox, smart phones, our spouse and kids, etc. This is the very reason the apostle Paul describes the Christian life as 'fighting the good fight of the faith.' A big part of that is to fight for our desire for God and his word but that is humanly impossible apart from grace. The good news is that there was a man who was perfect, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life because you cannot and died as a perfect sacrifice to pay for your sins. You can look to him for life and strength. So if you do not desire God or his word turn to him in prayer and ask him to:
• Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
• Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
• Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love, that I may rejoice and be glad all my days.
