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As I’m getting set up here, I was doing fine during the announcements until Mr. Lydick confessed that he did not pay for his luncheon. Well, that’s not the bad part. My wife leaned over and said, “We haven’t either.” I thought to myself, “I hope the head of BAO doesn’t catch wind of that.” I’m sure all of you have your thoughts and prayers with Mr. Pack. I know these allergies. Even I, as a young kid, I don’t even remember suffering from allergies like I am now. I don’t know if it comes with age, but certainly I know he’ll have a full recovery, I have every confidence of that, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Greetings. We often start messages with a question to set up what we’re going to talk about, but today I want to start with an unusual challenge. Don’t be disappointed. The reason you may be asking is, why would we be disappointed, is you’re going to fail.

All of you. If I were participating, I would fail myself. Now, what would cause us to fail? So you ready for the challenge? You don’t need any paper. You don’t need any pencils. Stop thinking. You laughed. Don’t think about anything. No thoughts. Clear your mind. If you’d only be quiet, I might be able to do this. You might be thinking. Brethren, even if I gave you a fifth, a sixth, or a seventh chance at trying to do that, let me tell you what will happen. You would still be thinking.

You would think about the fact that you’re not supposed to be thinking. So now if you’re not thinking about thinking or you’re thinking about not thinking, you’re still thinking. Some of you likely decided this was a useless exercise and didn’t even try. Instead, you might be thinking of something more useful. “Where did I put my keys? Can’t wait to see Mrs. E afterwards to get my brochure. Did I lock my door? Did I feed the cat? How much damage is the dog going to do by the time I get home in the house? I wonder what dessert I’m going to have after the meal this afternoon.” I would venture to say that it’s safe to tell all of you regarding this challenge, you failed, and you would have failed. That’s good.

You know, I very early on in my marriage, this is a true story... By the way, today is our 34th anniversary. Early on, I used to say to her when I saw her, you know, thinking far off, and she had this long look in her eyes, I would say, “What are you thinking about?” She would say, “Nothing.” True. And I would say, “Nobody thinks of nothing.” But what I didn’t tell her is, “Except for men.” We’re the only ones with that superpower. You know, Eastern meditation practices, if you think about, you know, Hindus, where we get a lot of people do yoga, I have nothing against yoga. I do have something against it, so I do have something, not nothing.

And Buddhists teach people to detach from the physical world and reality by emptying their minds of thoughts and desires. The idea of not having any thoughts at all, brethren, is absolutely impossible. Let me explain why. The human brain doesn’t stop working even when we sleep. In fact, in some ways, it’s more active than during the time that we’re awake. Makes you think or hope that some people in our political arena and some of the leaders in society today would do a lot more sleeping. But studies that included brain imaging, you know, EEGs, fMRIs, if I have that correct, PET scans, show, continuously, we are always active. Our brains are constantly active even through the night.

Our brains never turn off unless, of course, maybe we’re under anesthesia, maybe we’ve had a traumatic brain injury, or ultimately, if we die. That’s the only time our brains actually turn off. Think about it. If God wanted the human brain to empty itself, wouldn’t he have designed the brain to do that when we slept? But he didn’t. Here’s what God thinks about the world’s version. He says it actually in the Bible, the world’s version of meditation. Let’s turn to Psalm two for the first scripture.

I think you have an idea where we’re going with today’s message, but Psalm chapter two. Verse one, “Why do the heathen,” that would be the unbelievers, “...rage, and the people...” Now, people could include us, certainly included Israel, included people around the world, certainly would include us, God’s Church, God’s people. “...and the people imagine a vain thing.” But if you look that up, that word thing isn’t there. Now, I often say there’s a difference between asking a question and questioning something or someone. I know you all can tell the difference. If somebody’s asking you a question, that’s one thing. If they’re questioning you, that’s another thing, and God often questions, in his word, mankind.

He even questioned us. In fact, God would expect his people, those whom he has chosen, to question the world, the ways of the world. He asks us to even question ourselves often, challenge ourselves, and that’s what God’s doing here. He’s not just asking a rhetorical question. He’s questioning man’s ways. This phrase is only two words. The first word is hagah, phonetically spelled, it’s H-A-H-G-A-H, which means to imagine, to meditate. And riyq, the second word there, which means empty to no purpose. Now, after I’ve looked at the definitions in the Scriptures, I’ll oftentimes go back and reread it. And this is how it can be read, everyone. “Why do people meditate on emptiness or without purpose?”

Now that is a great question. God was questioning that. If a person could actually empty his or her mind of any thoughts, it would eventually fill back up again with what? The exact same stuff that they tried to empty, which is going to fill back up with the thoughts that they had prior to taking those five minutes or five hours to supposedly empty their mind of any thoughts, to detach themselves from reality. It’s impossible. That brings up another problem with worldly meditation. Worldly meditation, you can ask the question, “What next?” After you supposedly spent your five minutes or five hours or whatever time it took, what next? What real changes occur in that individual’s life?

You look at the Eastern nations that teach this type of meditation, and you can see that there’s no lasting change that occurred. You look at India, the poorest nation in the world. What has meditation, emptying their minds, trying to reach this nirvana, done for them? They’ve meditated themselves into abject poverty, to filth, to thinking that the cow is their grandmother. They meditate on these things again and again, but the real pressing issue, nothing changes as a result of that type of meditation. Now there’s another thing that can be easily confused with meditation, and that’s daydreaming. How many of you know what daydreaming is? Right? Well, I found it interesting what the difference is.

Daydreaming takes our minds off of reality and goes somewhere not real, unreal. We’re not solving or processing any issues if we’re daydreaming. For example, and I want to make this clear, my daughters and my wife are here, I am not, I repeat, I am not daydreaming when I’m sitting at the table with my wives, and they’re talking, my wife and daughters, if they’re talking about hair care or skin products or dress sizes. I’m not daydreaming. Now, I will confess to meditating. What I’m probably thinking about is analyzing what was just said, maybe formulating a response, and how I’m going to respond to the hair care product that they were talking about.

Or more likely, I’m probably thinking about some unfinished task at work. My mind goes there. They know when I’ve checked out. I might be thinking about a project or things that I need to do outside in the yard. So I’d like to summarize the difference between daydreaming and meditation so that we can make that distinction clear. When we daydream, our thoughts lead us. There’s nothing wrong with that every once in a while, but in meditation, we lead our thoughts. We’re thinking actively. Now, I read quite a few portions of the Church’s material on meditation in preparation for this message, and what struck me was this. We meditate more than we realize. You do a lot of meditating.

And to prove that, we’re going to have to look at the Church’s definition of meditation. Because the translators, if you go into your e-Sword or whatever the case may be, and you looked up meditation, you’re going to see that a lot of words, different Hebrew words and Greek words, are translated meditation. And there are some words in the Greek and Hebrew that aren’t translated meditation that are very similar to meditation. And the great thing about the Church’s definition, it covers them all. That’s why I don’t have to go into all the different definitions in the Hebrew and Greek today, because the Church’s definition captures them all.

I’d like you to just listen carefully, and if you’re a fast writer, you can write this down. We define meditation as the following. And now it’s all going to begin to make sense. To contemplate, to dwell on anything in thought, to think seriously, to muse, reflect, to purpose, to intend, to design and plan by revolving in the mind. Stop, because there’s more. To consider, to ponder, to weigh, to revolve. One of the articles says this; this is comprehensive. Every word I gave you, you can find in all of those Greek and Hebrew words that essentially allude to meditation.

Let’s turn to Psalm five. Because if that’s what meditation is, whether you’re young or old, male or female, one concern you might have about your thinking process, your meditation, is the same concern that King David had about it. Psalm five, just a few pages over. Here’s a question. Is what we are contemplating, and again, I’ll be using these words interchangeably throughout the message, dwelling on, is what you’re thinking about, achieving what it should? Now that’s a deep question. Is what you’re contemplating, pondering, wondering about, mauling over in your mind, musing, is it achieving what it’s supposed to achieve? King David had that same concern. He just expressed it in this way.

Verse one, Psalm five verse one, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.” Now, “consider” there means to attend to, to discern, to understand. David was not only asking God to listen to what he was saying, but he said, “I want you to consider what’s going on up here, God.” He wanted to know what God thought about what was going on in his head. God hears our words, but he also attends to what we meditate on for very important reasons, critical reasons that we’re going to talk about today. God cares about what’s going on up here, not just what’s coming out here or the actions that we take. Now, reflecting on this led me to several questions. Again, this is what God’s Word is supposed to do.

Challenge our thinking, make us think, make us ask deep questions. One question was, “Does what we meditate on matter to God? Am I meditating on the right things? Am I meditating the right way for the right amount of time?” These are questions I had to ask myself as I was studying and preparing for this, because what we meditate on matters to God, brother. How we meditate matters to God. The time that we take or the time that we don’t take to meditate matters to God. Pretty important. We know, you all know, and I’m not telling you anything super revelatory here, but God hears our words, and I’m sure that you invite him to consider your words.

God sees our conduct, and I’m sure we invite God to look at, examine, and consider our conduct. But what about meditation? Do we ever invite God to consider our meditation, what we’re thinking about? David asked God not just to listen to his words and observe his actions, but also to consider his meditation, and of course, David’s invite or invitation didn’t apply just to Psalm five. It was an open invitation. Of course, he wanted God to consider his meditation when he wrote Psalm five, but he wanted God to consider his meditation in all areas of his life. Do we? So why was it important to David what God thought about his meditation?

Why would it be important to him to say, “God, consider this, consider that, consider what I’m thinking?” Why should it matter to us? Why should it matter what God thinks or considers about what you’re thinking about, what you’re meditating on, how you’re meditating, how much time you’re taking to meditate? Well, he gives us the answer. Let’s go to Psalm nineteen, just a few chapters over. Verse fourteen, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” David didn’t just want God to consider his meditation. It was important to David, as it should be to us, that God would find the meditations of his heart acceptable.

That’s why he cared. David regularly contemplated. Extraordinary. He dwelt on relationships. He dwelt on relationships that were friendly and relationships that were antagonistic and enemies of him. He reflected on his intentions in his life towards his friends. He reflected on his intentions towards his enemies. He also reflected on the intentions of those friends towards him. He reflected, also, on the intentions of his enemies toward him. He weighed his plans and actions in life. He weighed his plans and actions for his friends, his family. He weighed his plans and actions of his enemies. He also contemplated and reflected on the plans and actions of those friends and enemies towards him.

We think of King David as a songwriter, but I find it amazing how much he meditated. Look at all the Psalms. They are a reflection of what his thought process was. There’s much to learn from that. Do we invite God to consider our meditations? I’m sure the answer is yes. Is it important that he finds the meditation of our hearts acceptable? Of course. Because David understood a principle that we all understand. Whatever fills our heart is what? It’s going to come out. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We act. We do things. Meditation shapes what we say and what we do. Not only that, pay very careful attention here, but our meditation influences what and how we study our Bibles.

Never thought of it, maybe, that way? But what’s going on up here will impact the way in which you approach your Bible study. And your Bible study will impact what you’re meditating on. Take prayer, for example. What we’re meditating on, what we’re thinking about, is typically what we pray about, right? And what we pray about will often lead us back to meditating on the circumstance or situation that we prayed about. We fast. Why do we fast? Because it’s something, an issue that’s on our mind. We want to draw closer to God so that we can understand better what God wants us to do in that situation. Exercising God’s Spirit.

We meditate and hope and pray that God will use His Spirit to guide us so that we can make the right decisions in our life. What we meditate on impacts, shapes, and influences everything we do. Now, meditation does something even more powerful, what? Than shaping and influencing and impacting all of those things I just described. Brethren, that’s why it’s vital we understand meditation. That’s why it was on my heart to share with you some of the things that I learned from the Church’s materials, and just what? Meditating on meditation. And I hope you will see and agree by the end of this message that meditation is far more than what you and I think.

Now, let’s make this really simple, okay? There are two kinds of meditation, I alluded to it already. What do you think they are? Don’t answer. There’s acceptable and unacceptable meditation. It’s as simple as that. And there are plenty of Bible figures that we can look at that display both. We’re just going to look at two today, just two figures. First, I’ll go back to the definition. Let’s consider, let’s think seriously, let’s muse, let’s reflect, and revolve in our minds David’s life. Because again, he displayed both, First Samuel twenty-four. First Samuel chapter twenty-four. First, we’re going to look at an acceptable form of meditation.

In this first instance, David carefully meditated on his opportunity to kill Saul under extreme pressure from his loyal warriors who were out there in the caves, fleeing as well to protect him until he could take the throne as God promised. So there’s pressures coming from his own loyal warriors we’re about to read here. Verse four, First Samuel twenty-four,

“And the men of David said to him, Behold the day of which the Lord said to you...” Here it is. Behold. This is the day that God described. This is what the Lord said. “...Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it shall seem good to you.”

And in fact, Saul was in his hands. We know the account. But was this the day? Was this what God had in mind for Saul at this particular time? Did this seem good to David? Was Saul actually the enemy that God was referring to? Here’s what David told his men after sneaking up on King Saul. It’s great because we don’t have to guess what it was or what it wasn’t he was meditating on. It tells us right here. His words and actions tell us what he was meditating on. Verse six, “And he said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master,” Not my enemy, my master. “...the Lord’s anointed, to stretch my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” So David stopped his servants with these words.

In other words, his words made the warriors pause and meditate on what they were about to do. “And suffered them not to rise against Saul.” And here’s what happened. Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way. By his words and actions, brethren, he didn’t invite thoughts or feelings of freedom from Saul’s persecution. “Wow, finally, I can get this guy off my back.” We’ve never felt that way about anyone, have we? “Boy, I’m free at last.” He didn’t think about being king in that moment. “Finally, I can stop sitting in this cave and get up off the ground and go sit in the very throne that this man is occupying that I know belongs to me.” He didn’t think that. He didn’t meditate on that. He could have.

He didn’t worry about what his men thought. His closest friends. He pondered answers to those questions that I just asked. He considered his relationship with Saul. He considered Saul’s relationship with God. His meditation, brethren, was acceptable, period. And his actions spoke to that. They followed suit. So here’s a simple equation. Right meditation leads to, produces righteous words and actions. Pretty simple, pretty basic, but we see what happens when meditation is unacceptable. Let’s go to Second Samuel eleven, the very same David. Now he’s king. King. He would have built off of that experience, would have understood under those extreme pressures to continue meditating, right, in an acceptable way.

Second Samuel eleven, verse two, all of you know this account, “And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house.” Now, what do you think he might be doing up there? Likely meditating. He was a man that meditated. Doesn’t say. I can’t prove that. But he’s in the middle of the night. Maybe he had a thought or two, and he just wanted to go up on the rooftop and begin to meditate on something that was important to him. Here’s what happened. “...and from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself.” Distraction. “...and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.”

It looks like he stopped thinking about what he was thinking and shifted his mind to something else. “And David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Verse four, “And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her.” If I’m not mistaken in this account, she’s pregnant. He tries multiple ways to get Uriah to go sleep with her, I think, in fact, to cover up this grave mistake that he had committed. You know what David should have done? Gone back to what he was meditating on in the first place. He shouldn’t have given a first thought or a second thought on that woman on the other roof.

He should have gone back downstairs and said, “I need to keep meditating.” Simple equation. Wrong meditation leads to wrong action and sin. Righteous meditation and thoughts lead to righteous words and actions. But the meditation of his heart was surely improved, right? Well, instead of meditating on how to honestly rectify that already bad situation, David gave in, and he continued meditating. And part of the definition, you remember, of the Church, he began to design a plan to murder Uriah. And that’s how bad, unacceptable meditation can lead to tremendously horrible, evil acts. Think about the world today. I could go on and on, but brethren, he’s not the worst.

We can have unacceptable and acceptable meditation. We all know that. But we’re not the worst. I can assure you of that. Isaiah fourteen. Isaiah fourteen. Remember, I said we’d look at two. Let’s muse about when, not just how, Lucifer became Satan. You might find this, maybe from a different angle than you’ve ever thought before, interesting. Isaiah fourteen and verse twelve, an account we all know. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down, who weakened the nations.”

Verse 13, “For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like...” I think you can eliminate that word, “like,” “I will be the most high.” That’s what he said in his heart. Lucifer had the ability to meditate. That’s not the problem. Meditation is not the problem. It says, “For you have said in your heart.” God gave his angels the capacity to meditate. However, the phrase, “I will be like,” that’s the problem, and all the other phrases that he said, because all those phrases were said in his heart.

In Strong’s, that “I will be like,” it means to consider oneself, to imagine oneself, form an idea about oneself as being or being like. Brethren, Lucifer became Satan at the moment he purposed, intended, designed, and planned unacceptably like Satan, well before he acted. People change before they ever say a word. People change before they ever take action or do something. Lucifer meditated on replacing God. That’s the worst kind of meditation that has ever existed. Although he didn’t get exactly what he planned, and I’m setting you up for something, he did become a god, the god of this world. Satan literally means adversary, which comes from the root word meaning to oppose, to obstruct, to act as an opponent.

Now, why would I bring this worst of all examples up? We’re about to see the power that meditation has, and I would argue more power than studying your Bibles. Now studying your Bibles will lead to good meditation, but more powerful than prayer, more powerful than fasting, more powerful than shaping and influencing and impact what we say and do, I’m going to show you what the power of meditation is. Proverbs twenty-three. Proverbs twenty-three and verse six, another familiar verse, a verse we all know, talking of a bad person, an evil person. Verse six, “Eat not the bread of him that has an evil eye, nor desire his dainty meats.” Verse seven, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

I said that meditation achieves something even more powerful than all of those things that I described earlier, the other tools of Christian growth. I don’t want to overstate this, but I don’t know if I can. In the end, brethren, meditation most greatly impacts who we are and who we will become. How you think will impact who you become in life, who you are in life. That’s why Paul warned the Romans and us, what do you think, to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to, why? The more we think about ourselves, the more we become self-centered and increasingly difficult to reason with. You know why? Because we’re higher. Why would we listen to somebody lower than us?

If we’ve exalted ourselves above everyone else, there’s no reason to listen to anyone below us. However, if we think of God, meditate on God and others, what will happen? We become more loving, more kind, less self-centered, and more reasonable. We’re willing to listen to people, willing to listen to counsel, willing to listen to our spouse, willing to listen to our work colleague, even willing to listen from the mouth of babies. We’re willing to listen because we’re not self-centered. The more we meditate on physical things, the more carnally minded we become, and we know where that leads to. The more we meditate on spiritual things, and I’m sure there’s plenty of Bible verses coming to mind.

For example, all that is true, all that is honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, the more we become what? If we think on those things which were commanded in Philippians to do, what happens? We only become what we meditate on. If I’m meditating on what’s true, I become a man of truth. If I meditate on honesty, I become a man of honesty, a just man, a virtuous man. I’m not going to say lovely man, even a lovely man, a praiseworthy man. We become what we meditate on. Satan understands the power of meditation. He understands that it can have a transforming power on angels, on demons, and yes, human beings, Christian or non-Christian.

He wants everyone to meditate in a way that’s wrong, on wrong things, for too long, because as a man thinks, so he is. He wants everyone to become God’s opponent, God’s adversary. That can only begin with what we think about, what we meditate on, and how we meditate. But learning what is acceptable and unacceptable meditation and that we become what we meditate on is not paramount. That’s pretty big stuff there. It only becomes paramount if we understand the following. Let’s go to Isaiah fifty-five. Isaiah fifty-five. Another familiar verse. I don’t know if I’m going to go to any obscure Bible verse today, brethren. Isaiah fifty-five, eight, a very familiar Bible verse.

See if we can see it in a slightly different light, maybe for some of you. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” How many are familiar with that verse? How many have read it more than once in their lifetime? What does this verse have anything to do with meditation? Everything. I want you to consider something. God does not need to study the Bible. He’s the source of all truth. Anyone disagree? Please don’t raise your hand. Dr. Viljoen? God doesn’t need to pray. To whom would He pray? God doesn’t fast.

He doesn’t need to draw closer to Himself, and He certainly doesn’t need to exercise the Spirit. God is Spirit. Brethren, meditation is unique among the tools of Christian growth because God meditates, Himself. Now our genius God has perfect knowledge. He doesn’t meditate in a way like us to learn or to understand, or make wise decisions. He has perfect knowledge, but God does reflect. God does purpose. God does intend. God does design. God does plan by revolving things in His mind. He considers. He ponders and weighs. Now here’s something to ponder. God is not merely stating a fact here. It’s a lofty fact, a lofty truth. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are not our ways.

But He was inviting Israel to do something extraordinary. What is it? To think like Him. It was an invitation, not just a statement of fact. It’s an invitation to us, brethren. God Almighty was inviting them, as He’s inviting us, to think like Him. Really? Wonder why He would do that. Let’s see here. Maybe Proverbs twenty-three. “For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” God knows that if He can get a people to think like Him, what? Ultimately, they will become like Him. That’s it. That’s the power of meditation. That’s paramount. Philippians chapter two sums it up nicely. I can’t go through this message about meditation unless I look at Christ’s example. I don’t even probably have to have you turn there.

You’ll know it. Philippians chapter two, verse five. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” If we think deeply, meditate about this familiar portion of Scripture, it reveals the meditations of Christ’s heart in the following verses. He humbled Himself. In contrast to Satan’s mind, who thought, “I will exalt myself,” Christ said, “I will humble myself.” Christ made Himself of no reputation. He was obedient unto death. Brethren, we’re in this until death or toward the kingdom, which we believe is coming. What does this tell us about meditation? The mind of Christ. Pretty powerful. Christlike meditation produces Christlike attitudes. Christlike attitudes produces Christlike conduct.

Christlike conduct produces Christlike disciples, and Christlike disciples are sons and daughters of God. That’s what meditation can produce. How critical is meditation? It’s more than we think. It’s learning what and how to think like God in Christ. That’s what meditation is, far more than I ever imagined. So if you want success in any area, pick one. You want success in marriage, in parenting, at school, in relationships, with acquaintances at work, with friends, with close friends, with best friends, with people that you’re interested in more than a friend, with a person, hobbies, what you do in your free time, your careers.

If you want success in those areas, you’ll need to learn to meditate like God, to think like Him. Flip the coin. If you want to avoid failure, mistakes, offenses, and sin, you have to learn to think like God. Meditation does that. And there are several things we can do to achieve that. Ecclesiastes seven. Keep moving along. Number one, here’s what we can do. First, we must make time to be alone with our thoughts. Might seem simple, but this is one of the hardest parts of it all. First, we must make time to be alone with our thoughts. God wants us to make time to think deeply. About what? We’ll get to that, okay? But what could possibly prevent us? Let’s look at that first. I was amazed by this.

Here’s what Solomon observed nearly 3,000 years ago. I’m ready to take it on the chin. Verse twenty-nine, “Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright, but...” There’s that big three-letter word that you find in the Bible, “but they have sought out many inventions.” Now, can anyone think where I’m going with when it comes to making time to meditate with God? Solomon observed 3,000 years ago what we still struggle with today. We constantly seek inventions to entertain ourselves. Think about it. The silence feels awkward. I mean literally now. But silence can feel awkward. We’re a society that feel awkward when there’s no noise around us or something going on. Waiting feels irritating.

How many get irritated when they’re waiting in line, and there are two or three people ahead of you, making it really, really tough? What could we do during that time instead of being irritated about it? Boredom, oh, it’s unbearable. “Mom and Dad, I’m bored.” If I ever said that to my mom and dad, oh, he’d show me how to rid myself of boredom real quick. I’d hear that top drawer open up. “Oh, you’re bored.” “Oh, wait. I’m going outside. I’m going to go play with a stick.” “Good, good choice, son.” We have to fill every quiet moment with noise. Today, we have entertainment at our fingertips. Not just a TV, we have TVs, phones, computers with streaming apps and games.

We can... I think I got this right, I’ll find out by the chuckles of the young people. We can death scroll. Did I get it right? No, that wasn’t right? That’s not how you say it? I’m getting the nod. Okay, don’t tell me, all right? Just let me bathe in this embarrassment right now. I don’t know what it’s called. That was close. We scroll from video to video for hours. Let me put it that way. Hours, we can spend just scrolling from video to video. We binge-watch entire series of television. Withdrawal is real, but you won’t die from it, brethren. Don’t worry if you miss those three episodes after you’ve watched ten. “But I’ve only got three more to go.” Don’t worry, you won’t die.

Lamentations three. You want to talk about God’s commandment? I know we all want to obey God, not only his commandments, but his demands. Lamentations three. Here’s what God says about making time to meditate. Lamentations three and verse twenty-nine. He’s speaking of man here. Verse twenty-nine, “He sits alone and keeps silence because He,” God, because God, “...has borne it upon him.” Now, the Amplified Bible was very helpful. Here’s how the Amplified Bible puts it. “Let him sit alone in hope and keep quiet because God has laid it on him for his benefit.” One version translate it because God demands it. That’s what he’s trying to communicate. God demands that we sit alone.

You know what that means? No spouse, no friends, no children. Some of you are relieved by that. No pets, no TV, no cell phones, and no computer. “But Mr. Houk, you’re crushing me.” Studies have found that people struggle to focus on one thing for more than two minutes. Can you believe that? I was shocked, and then I thought to myself, and I go, “Whoa, wait a minute, I might resemble that.” You know what you need to do? Go to the window and look outside, maybe step outside. If you’re going on a walk, it’s not a power walk; it’s slowly strolling along. And when you do that, focus on one thing, one thing only. Do not let your mind change topics or subjects.

Paul warned that Romans not to meditate or imagine themselves higher than they are. He told the Corinthians, “Cast down all imaginations. Fight the strongholds.” Where are the strongholds? In the mind. “...bringing to captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Apply that when it comes to meditation. When thoughts want to try and infiltrate, you stop them, you cast them down. When your imagination starts to run away from you, take it captive. Put it away. Go back to focusing on one thing. This is hard. It’s not easy, brethren, to do. It takes practice. So start small. Here’s a piece of advice. Begin by setting aside two times during the daytime, two times, one in the morning, maybe one in the afternoon.

Maybe it’s at work during your break. Maybe you get a fifteen-minute break. Maybe you get a lunch hour. In the morning. Adjust your schedules, make time, and maybe five minutes in the morning. Now, some of you might be thinking, “Well, I meditate more than that.” Well, great. Good. For some of us that don’t, start with five minutes in the morning and the afternoon. Set a timer. Maybe you have a watch. Maybe you don’t have a watch, and you can guess it. But here’s a key. Ask God to help you to think like Him on that subject and help you stay on that subject. And when you’re finished, when the timer goes off, you’re done, and thank God for helping you to achieve it because you want to think more like Him.

And over time, you gradually increase that. Maybe it goes to five minutes to ten minutes, ten minutes to fifteen minutes, but it’s only on one thing. It’s focused thought. Maybe it’s someone that’s going through a trial. Maybe it’s something you’re going through. Maybe it’s a problem at work. Maybe it’s a relationship issue. Maybe it’s a mistake you made, and we’ll get to that, but focus on that one thing. But that’s not all. Psalm four. Real quick. Psalm four. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, set the timer. Do not stop meditating until that timer goes off, or do not stop meditating on that one thing until you look at your watch and those five minutes are up.

And you, maybe, you’ll find after a while, “No, I want to give a couple more minutes on this. On this issue.” And it’ll grow, and it’ll grow, and it’ll grow. It could be about your marriage. It could be about your children. It could be about anything. Psalm four, verse four. “Stand in awe and sin not.” How do we do that? “Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still.” Nighttime, of course, is probably the easiest and best time to meditate. We can process the day. We can reflect and think before prayer, maybe even after prayer. Now, there’s a caveat that I want to give you on that in terms of nighttime, but David says to commune with our own hearts in our beds.

If you have a spouse, wait. “What are you doing, honey?” “I’m meditating. Give me five. I’m praying.” Wait till the lights are out. Wait till you hear her snoring, I mean, sleeping, and then begin to think. Try to pick a positive subject. It doesn’t always have to be a negative one. You know what’s going to be there tomorrow when you get up? The same problem that you wanted to think about in the evening. Nothing wrong with sometimes spending a night burning the midnight oil, thinking through a problem that has to be solved. Nothing wrong with that. I will say that a great majority of the time, think about something positive. Focus on that so it doesn’t keep you up at night, and make sure you don’t fall asleep.

How many have fallen asleep reading their Bible? Don’t fall asleep meditating. That’s why you start small. So, what can we do? That is the second one. When we make time, that’s how we meditate. Excuse me. That’s the first one. Make time to meditate. Number two. Now, what we meditate on matters. What we meditate on matters. Let’s turn to Haggai one. What we meditate on matters. Haggai. The prophet Haggai. What does he have to say about meditating? Haggai one and verse five. “Now therefore,” It isn’t just, you know, “Now therefore God said.” “Now therefore, thus says the Lord.”

This isn’t just a narrative. This is what God commands. “...thus says the Lord.” What’s the next words? “...the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Consider your lives.” Same word, consider. Meditate on. “You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourself, but there is none warm. And he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.” “I don’t have enough. It seems like I never have enough. I’m having financial challenges. I have debt. I have this. I have that.” Well, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider, meditate on your ways. Meditate on your life.

Of course, this has a prophetic application, but who would argue that God doesn’t want us to consider our ways? Consider literally means to set your heart on, think deeply about, to evaluate carefully. Oh, we go back to the Church’s definition. That all falls into meditation. God wants us to use the time we set aside to think deeply about and carefully evaluate what? Circumstances in our life. Situations, decisions that we’ve made. Decisions that we’re about to make. Decisions that we will make. Relationships. Relationships we had in the past. Relationships we have now, and maybe a relationship that’s developing. Reactions that we’ve had, that we’re having.

Actions that we’ve taken, that we are taking, or have taken, and just our direction in life. What direction are we going to go in our life? As Christians, this is crucial. And this isn’t strange to us because we just came through the Passover season. First Passover and for some, the second Passover. We were considering our ways. It’s not foreign to us. What did we learn during the Days of Unleavened Bread? During the Days of Unleavened Bread, we learned, we meditated on, we thought about ways in which we can keep bad attitudes, unacceptable meditation, and sin out of our lives.

This verse tells us to consider, think about this, our efforts to satisfy basic needs. Go back and read it carefully. You know what that says to me as I meditate on it? It says, “Consider your ways.” It talks about food. It talks about drink. It talks about clothes. It talks about money. In other words, everyday life. God wants us to seriously meditate, and evaluate what and how we do all of these things, so that we can improve in all of those areas. What we eat, hmm. What we drink, hmm. God’s meddling. God consider my meditation. What we wear, hmm. He wants me to look like an ambassador, and I look like a bum. I’m not kidding. I’m just... I’m not pointing to anyone. I’m not going to look at anyone. I don’t want them to think I’m talking about them.

Everybody’s looking at me. Don’t you look at me, Mr. Houk.

My money issues, “Oh, you want me to consider that too? How I handle?” Oh, yep. I want to know what’s going on up here about all those things. Brethren, there is a place and time for thinking about these things. We need to make them. So, meditating on our lives is first. Here’s second.

What could possibly be second? God wants us to meditate on our lives. What could be the second thing? After we’ve made time, He’s telling us to meditate on our lives. What could be possibly the second one? Joshua one. Joshua chapter one. I enjoy going to this. He’s an extraordinary example of servanthood, faithfulness, loyalty. So many great characteristics that Joshua gives us.

Verse eight. Joshua one: eight. “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night.” Brethren, God has shared His thoughts, so that those whom He has called can become God-beings like Him. The Bible, here’s something powerful. The Bible contains thoughts on what matters to Him. This book tells us what’s on God’s mind. You don’t have to wonder.

So, if any part of what is contained in here, doesn’t interest us, then we’re saying we’re not interested in what God thinks about it. If this tells us who the Father is, it matters to Him, so it matters to me. Now, it’s important to me and it’s important to mankind, but being important, the implications that it has, is separate from mattering to us. I can see the importance, but does it matter to me?

If it’s prophecy, how much of prophecy is in this Bible, brethren? Then, I have some meditating to do, because it matters to God. It interests the world. It’s important to the world. They don’t know. It’s important to us, because we have a role in it, but does it matter to us? Do we meditate on it? Do we embrace it, along with all the other things? So, the second major thing to meditate on, and this is where meditating God’s way crushes the world’s approach.

As we meditate on our lives, which we have to, we must, we just covered that, unlike the world, we must simultaneously meditate on God’s truth, and see how they come together. You can’t do them separately. If you do, you’re not going to be effective in your meditation. God didn’t tell Joshua to study his Bible day and night. You have to study the Bible to meditate on it, of course.

His advice wasn’t that he had to pray day and night, or fast continuously. That would have been bad. He’d have died. He told him to meditate on His law day and night. You know why? Because God knew that 40 years full of failures and successes, disappointments and satisfaction, good and bad awaited him. And to get him through it all, to get us through it all, He said, “Meditate on my law. Every circumstance and situation that are important, make sure you’re meditating on it, but also make sure that you’re meditating on my law.”

God was not going to send an angel, or a peer each and every time that Joshua had an issue that he was going on in life. He’s not going to do it for us, not going to do it for me. So, He gives us his law and he tells us, “Consider your ways and consider my law.” I want to share a quick example, a couple examples that pulls all of this together. How we can meditate to make time, and evaluate life, and using on God’s Word.

Let’s turn to Romans eight. Sometimes I hesitate to use personal examples, but hopefully, you can connect it with an example in your own life. You know, occasionally, the grip we have on life can slip, brethren. We can occasionally find ourselves in a free fall just when we’re reaching the top. I’m sure all of you can think of instances that that’s happened. Everything was under control, until it wasn’t.

We trained and somehow we still lost. I rehearsed to no end, and I still messed up. I studied as hard as I could, and I still failed. I worked really hard and concentrated, but I made the mistakes. The promotion or position was sure, I worked hard, so why did they give the position to someone else? Romans eight, verse twenty-eight, another familiar verse, “And we know, but do we remember, do we meditate on the fact that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose?”

You know, while I was in the Church, I was already in the Church, I was hired by a company that was headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and God helped me become a top performer. I’m very convinced of that. My wife could attest to that, and the purpose, again, is not for me to brag, it’s just to show you how this one verse can be applied so broadly, brethren, as I reflected on my life, and I reflected or meditated on God’s Word here.

And again, not to brag, but single-handedly, I helped the company gain a ten percent market share in a particular city that I was working in, in a very short period of time from a low percentage to ten percent. And they had me training others, and helping them overcome challenges, and begin to succeed as well. Well, all of a sudden, the manager gets fired. I’d been there almost a year, and they said, “Carl, would you mind stepping in? We want you to manage the office.” And I did that for two weeks, did I not? Or easily.

And it was just a pro forma period, because I was one of the interviewees, they had to, you know, advertise it within the company, and give other people the opportunity to interview. Went through the interview. Interview; spectacular, no problem at all. In fact, they talked to me as if, “Hey, keep doing what you’re doing,” that kind of thing. And everything didn’t go as planned. Turned out, they hired the friend of the former manager who was there, and he had never worked in that industry, and he never worked for that company.

Now... I’m having a visceral moment right now, anger, right? Reasonable. And while I was processing that, this verse came to mind. All things work together for good. And I realized that it was my attitude, and my emotions that I needed to work on. Because God wanted to work something greater in my life than that job position. And just as I was starting to do well, and I was working on my attitude, getting back at it, forgetting that, and working with the other people that needed help, an engineering firm called me within days, called me and said, “We’d like to interview you for a position for our federal division, to lead our federal division.”

And within a week, I was hired, and they were giving me a third base salary above what I was currently earning. And they gave me three weeks’ vacation to cover all my holy days. And it was an area that I had worked in before. And to really make things tough on me, I had to fly in and out of Washington, D.C., on a private jet. It was tough.

But then something unexpected. Before my year anniversary with that company, Headquarters asked me if I would leave that, and come work here for about half of what I was earning, and less than what I was earning in the previous job. And it was the easiest decision I’ve ever made. One of the easiest decisions. Honey, it’s our anniversary today, so that was an easy decision, too, when she asked me to marry her.

It’s my version. And it was the easiest decision. But I knew it was going to be the hardest to pull off, because we still had four daughters to raise. And as I was considering and contemplating all of that, guess what verse came to mind? The same one. And you know what I realized? All things work for good. Not just bad things, good things. God wanted to work out something even better for me. And I gladly accepted.

That’s what meditating on life and God’s Word does. Changes in me were needed. I did them, even in the bad times, and even in the good times. Because God is going to not only use trials and tests, he’s going to use successes and progress to see if we will meditate on our life and His word, and make the right decisions, and still think like Him. If you’ve been rejected or betrayed by someone, feelings of rejection, feeling of confusion, betrayal can set in.

Then, you’ve got to wrestle with sadness and depression, or maybe anger and bitterness toward that person, towards a person who betrayed you, someone that you deeply trusted, and you broke that trust. You might go to thoughts like, “What did I do wrong? Where did I fail? What could I have done better? Why can’t I be good enough?” All that does is cause us to replay the hurt and pain.

So, we meditate on God’s Word to interrupt those thoughts, to address those painful events. And then I remember Isaiah, and I’m purposely not going there, because all you have to do is meditate on God’s Word. I’ve read it. I know what Isaiah says. It says, “Christ would be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, because He was despised and rejected,” and add there, betrayed.

And the gospel recorded that He was despised by family, rejected by His own people, and betrayed by one of His closest friends. You know what that makes me think? If I’m rejected and betrayed by others, I’m in the greatest of company. And then my mind might go to thinking about brethren, past and present, who have suffered the same rejection, betrayal. And now I’m not just in the greatest of company, I’m in a great company of people who have suffered the same thing.

But my meditation doesn’t stop there, Romans twelve. Because now as the hurt and pain, and the anger and the questioning of myself dissipates, I ask myself, “What can I do?” Romans twelve, verse nineteen, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine.” Oh, and that’s where I stop and start meditating. That person that betrayed me, wait till God executes His vengeance.

Oh, when they’re incinerated into the lake of fire, now, I have to keep reading. Regrettably, the sentence isn’t over. “I will repay, says the Lord.” Oh, there it is. Wait. “Therefore, if your enemy who rejected or betrayed you,” I inserted that, “is hungry, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.” What? “For in doing so, he pulls a fire on his head. Be not overcome by evil or evil thoughts or evil meditations, but overcome with that evil with good meditation.”

And now my mind starts to think about how I can look for opportunities, they don’t have to be big ones, it could be very simple ones, to help that person that betrayed me. That manager that had no business in that office, how can I help him become successful? How can I continue helping the people? Think of people in your life that have done that to you. Vengeance is God, let’s just be about meditating on the fact that we need to find opportunities to feed them, to give them to drink and do good. That’s what meditation can do.

Verse fourteen up top. Continue meditating on those circumstances. Bless, that means to speak well of. Praise, what? I have to talk good about this person that betrayed me? There’s something good about them. Them which persecutes you, bless and curse not, that word “curse” means to execrate. Clear as mud right now, right?

Execrate, I didn’t even know what that meant until I had to read the definition. It means to feel, or express great loathing for. Sometimes we can loathe the people that have hurt us most. And God says not to execrate them. This Christianity thing is hard. Nobody said it was going to be easy. It’s not for the faint of heart. Here fifteen, it says, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice.” There isn’t qualifiers there. Someone’s life is going well. Don’t be jealous. Don’t be envious. Rejoice with them.

“Ah, but only when I’m feeling joyful or up to it,” nope. Rejoice even when you don’t feel like rejoicing. Be sad if they’re sad. It’s easy to do that with our friends. What reward is that? It’s hard to do with those who have betrayed us, or rejected us, or despised us. Family, friends, closest ones. All of this, brethren, is in context of verse two. “And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

God does not want us to live like the world. How do we transform our lives in every area? Young people, older people, men, women. We teach our kids to read the Bible, to do Bible lessons. We teach our children to pray. Do we teach them to meditate, so that they can begin to think like God? Parents? Do we get them to reflect on their... Not just their lives, but other people’s lives, and meditate on God’s Word and see how they combine?

Start easy, but you know what you’re producing? Potential God beings. By doing that, by making time to meditate in our lives, and using God’s Word to help us through every circumstance, here’s what happens. The more we ponder, the more we contemplate, the more we think seriously, the more we purpose, intend, design, and plan like God, the fewer battles we are going to lose in life.

I want you to consider today’s message only as an introductory class to meditation. It’s vast. It’s powerful. We’ve seen it. Lucifer was never going to be God. He had no chance. But worse yet, he failed at thinking like God. Brethren, we are called to become like God. That requires learning to contemplate, to dwell on in thought, to think seriously, to muse, to reflect, to purpose, to intend, to design, and to plan by revolving in the mind just like Christ and God, and we need to do that now. Clearly, meditation is more than we think.