People are “busy” – even “rushed off their feet”. Busy working, exercising, spending time with family and friends, staying connected, scrolling, playing fantasy football, and binging Netflix.
Introspection is a rare activity. Silence and solitude rarer still. This is the age of freneticism.
It is perhaps surprising that, in eleven experiments involving more than 700 people, most participants reported that they found it unpleasant to be alone in a room with their thoughts for just six to fifteen minutes.[1]
An awareness of the impact of our noisy and frenetic world has seen a recent increased interest in mindfulness. According to the NHS website,
It can be easy to rush through life without stopping to notice much. Paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing. Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". Mindfulness can help us enjoy life more and understand ourselves better. You can take steps to develop it in your own life.
Those who practise mindfulness say that it boosts their happiness, their connections to others, and the quality of their work and daily life. It has been described as “falling awake”, with the outcome said to be a greater ability to act consciously and thoughtfully and from deep inside, rather than to react with knee-jerk responses.[2]
The importance of silence and solitude is not a new concept for Christians. The important difference between modern mindfulness and biblical solitude is that time alone for the Christian is not absolute solitude. The Christian may be on their own, but never alone. Retreating from the noise and hustle of modern life into the tranquillity of God’s presence, to meditate upon the Word of God, is where true peace and blessing is found.
There are examples of men and women in the Bible who valued their time alone with their God and made it part of their rhythm of life. Even the Lord Jesus, without the weaknesses of sin, made sure that He had time apart from other people to spend it in prayer and communion with His God (Luke 5:16).
The common perception of meditation may be of a person emptying their mind and seeking the tranquillity of nothingness in a yoga-style environment. For the Christian, in contrast, it is filling the mind with thoughts of God, biblical truth, and the intimacy of true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
J.I. Packer has a helpful definition of meditation in his book, Knowing God:[3]
Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purpose and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God as a means of communication with God. Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace.
Many Christians read the Bible every day, or at least on a regular basis. The Bible is not meant only to inform, however. It is designed by God to transform us. It is the means by which the Holy Spirit works in our character to develop Christlikeness.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
For the Scriptures to have their intended purpose, we need to do more than read them. We need to ponder the truth that the words convey. It is this activity of carefully considering that is called meditation. As Thomas Brooks writes:[4]
Remember that it is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most but he that meditates most that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.
From the first mention of meditation in the Bible in the time of the patriarchs, all the way down to the apostolic era, God was calling His people to meditate upon His Word.
“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming” (Genesis 24:63).
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).
“Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night”
(Psalm 1:1–2).
“Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Timothy 4:15 KJV).
As Paul wrote to Timothy, he encouraged him to overcome his fear and prepare for hardship as “a good solder of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). As part of that exhortation, he used three metaphors to help Timothy appreciate the need to keep focused on the Lord in his service for Him. How he served mattered, and he should never lose sight of the need to serve with joy as he participated in the fruit of his labours. To illustrate these points, the apostle spoke of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer, and then asked Timothy to stop and think about what he had written:
“Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things” (2 Timothy 2:7).
This is the point when Timothy should stop his reading, close his eyes, focus his mind, ponder these verses, and speak to the Lord in prayer about them. Stop and consider:
“What does it say?”
“What does it mean?”
“How does this apply to me?”
Like Timothy, we need to close our ears to the sounds of this world and open them to the Divine Instructor, asking that He would give us understanding in all things.
“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a).
[1] “Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind” (Science Journal Vol 345 Issue 6192)
[2] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-anthony-seldon/falling-awake-the-power-of-silence-in-a-frenetic-world_b_5010389.html
[3] J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Inter Varsity Press, 1973), pp. 18-19
[4] Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
