Today’s Bible Reading:

2 Kings 10
2 Timothy 1
Hosea 2
Psalms 119:97-120

Today’s Bible Verse(s):

Psalm 119:97 (CSB): “How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long.”

Reflections on Today’s Bible Verse(s):

When God’s people personally experience the sentiments of Psalm 119:97, Christianity will take the world by storm!

I know that’s a powerful statement but I believe it with all my heart. Let’s investigate the verse that I have chosen for today to discover how we can gain more spiritual power from God’s Word.

First, let’s define “meditation.”

When contemporary Christians think of meditation, they typically think of someone who is sitting down, legs crossed, eyes closed, and attempting to clear their minds of all thoughts. This is not meditation as it is explained in the Bible.

The Bible commands and encourages us to meditate. But Scriptural meditation isn’t emptying our minds … it is filling our minds. While there are many, many things that a Christian can meditate on, the Psalmist said that he loved meditating on God’s Word.

Psalm 119:97 (CSB): “How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long.”

So, what is meditation? It is thinking on something, turning it over and over in our minds until the concept becomes wired into our brains. It is taking the written Word and thinking on it so deeply that it becomes literally written on the walls of our mind.

This sounds hard, doesn’t it? Well, my friend, it isn’t. If you understand the key to meditation, then it will become easy and natural to meditate.

What’s the key?

Love!

Notice the word “love” in our verse for today.

Psalm 119:97 (CSB): “How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long.”

The Psalmist’s love for God’s Word is what caused him to think on God’s Word “all day long.”

When my wife and I were dating, we lived 7 hours apart. She lived in Lexington, Kentucky and I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. So, we spent a lot of time on the phone and a lot of time writing and reading letters.

Well, actually, she is the one who wrote most of the letters. But, I sure enjoyed reading them! Every time I received a letter from my Sweetheart, I would open the envelope and give my full, delighted attention to the words she wrote. I suspect that I read each letter at least 4-5 times, some of them many more times. There were occasions when I would tuck one of her letters into my textbooks and read them again while I was in class working on my master’s degree.

You see, my love for my Sweetheart and for what she wrote to me made it easy and natural to want to read and reread her letters. I found it easy to regularly reflect back on what she wrote to me (meditate). Reading her letters brought such a warmth to my heart that nothing else could touch.

I discovered as I read Kim’s letters that love spawns meditation. It is a natural response.

Do you delight to read and reread and reflect on God’s Word? If not, then its a love issue. You either aren’t experiencing a meaningful love relationship with the Father or you don’t love what He has written to you. When you rekindle your love for the Lord and His Word, you will find that you naturally want to meditate on His Word.

The fact that so few Christians read their Bibles daily and even fewer regularly meditate on God’s Word testifies to the fact that far too many Christians have lost their love. And that, my friend, is serious!

Revelation 2:4–5 (CSB): “But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Lord Jesus, I have discovered in Psalm 119:97 that love is directly tied to meditation. The fact that I don’t regularly meditate on Your Word reveals that I don’t love You as much as I thought I did. I’m not OK with that. I want to love You more. I want to love You so much that I find it easy, natural, and so enjoyable to regularly meditate on Your Word. Please help me as I make the necessary adjustments in my life. I pray this is the powerful Name of Jesus, Amen.

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