I marvel at how often the book of Psalms talks about meditating on the word of God. Most of those psalms were written by David, the man God describes as having a heart like God Himself. Perhaps the key to our own spiritual growth is found in doing what David did to have a godly heart. The goal in our life should be to insure that the words of our lips come from a heart which has the words of God engraved on it.
Take time to consider the following places where the psalmist speaks of meditating on the Bible: “In His law he mediates day and night . . . Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. . . . I meditate on You in the night watches. . . . I will also mediate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. . . . I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. . . . Your servant meditates on Your statutes. . . . So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works. . . . And I will meditate on your statutes. . . . But I will meditate on Your precepts. . . . Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. . . . For your testimonies are my meditation. . . . I meditate on all Your works. . . . I meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty” (1:2; 19:14; 63:6; 77:12; 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148; 143:5; 145:5).
How can we imagine that David would not have taken time to follow the instructions of Moses? “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel” (Deut. 17:18-20). In your imagination, watch the thirty year old King David ascend to the throne. See him every day reading his own handwritten copy of the scriptures. See him, as he reads, taking time to stop and meditate on the words he has just read. Herein lies the key to great spiritual growth. Would to God that elders, preachers, parents and every Christian would reflect every day on the verses which address their God-given responsibility!
When David became king, how much of the Bible had been written? Obviously, the books of Moses and the books of Job, Joshua and Judges, but what others? David’s Bible had less than ten books of the Bible. Can you imagine his joy if he had had your Bible of 66 books! Where is your joy in meditation?