Meditation

This sigh from David, uttered roughly a thousand years before Jesus was born, speaks of meditation on the living God and all His attributes and precepts.

It is only in latter years that the Eastern way of meditation started gaining ground in the Western world. This method of meditating requires you to empty your mind of everything, sit quietly and start repeating a mantra at regular intervals, all the while also taking note of your breathing pattern to help focus your mind on what is going on inside you. Unfortunately, the emptying of your mind removes the godly barriers Holy Spirit provides and opens it up to demonic influences, making this type of meditation very dangerous indeed.  Paul warns us in Rom 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, an active strategy on our part to change the way we think – not to empty our minds and thereby invite demons to plant thoughts therein.

In the above Psalm, David points out two things, namely words of his mouth (speaking) and meditation of his heart (thinking). One word for meditation in Hebrew is hagah, which means uttering beneath your breath, whispering, mulling over. This means that throughout the day and night, whenever you are meditating, you softly repeat the words of the verse or concept on which you are focussing. The meditation of your heart is an active concentration on the things you are meditating on, the thoughts that Holy Spirit brings to your attention as you are intently and consciously engaged in this process.

Let’s try a practical example, and meditate on Ps 23:1: