You’ve heard that line before haven’t you? You’ve probably said it! I know I have! As fallen creatures we do some pretty stupid stuff. Have you seen the videos? The BIG guys falling flat on their tooshes off of those hover board things which are the big rave today? Last night I’m sitting in a Wal-Mart parking lot waiting for my wife and I see two young people, a guy and a girl, come out of the store and she jumps on his back and he steps up on a hoverboard and they ride all of 100 feet to their car, get off and throw the board in the back seat, jump in the car and off they go! No, they didn’t crash but that would have been cute. Ya gotta love it!

Well, leaving the comical realm, we do some very detrimental and tragic things when we get our thinking on the wrong tracks. You are what you think, isn’t that what they say? There’s a lot of truth to that. As people with natures that have an inborn tendency to do the wrong thing, we definitely need a positive influence to harness our thinking and get it moving in the right direction every day of our lives. That influence is the Word of God via the Holy Spirit and the tool is memorization and meditation!

In my blog yesterday we see the first mention in the Scriptures of the word meditation. Isaac was about to make one of the most important decisions in his life and what was he doing? Do you recall? It was a good thing. He was out in the field in the evening meditating! Imagine the scene… maybe he was  gazing over ripe wheat fields that were flowing back and forth in a soft breeze extending as far as the eye can see. It’s probably sunset and the purple clouds are painting an unforgettable scene. Just over the horizon he sees a caravan and in answer to his prayers he sees his new wife Rebekah approaching and the next chapter of his life is about to begin.

What was HE thinking? It doesn’t take too much to come up with a short list. God has been SO good to me! God is SO great to have blessed my family. My family heritage of faith from my father Abraham has been an awesome sight to behold and the blessings have wafted over us in great measure! Oh Father guide my steps!

Soon after my wife and I became Christians God directed us into the Word of Life youth ministry as assistant leaders. Part of our duties was to be a good example to our teenagers by doing a daily Quite Time devotional, read good Christian books and memorize the Word of God on a regular basis. We were only about a year old in our newfound faith and I must say that we would never have gotten a better foundation for our young Christian lives without doing those things. They still are paying dividends today.

What do the Scriptures say about memorizing the Word of God and meditation? Take a look:

Joshua 1:8 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.

Thirteen mentions of meditate in the Psalms, here’s few:

Psalm 1:1,2 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 63:6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.

Psalm 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways.

Psalm 145:5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.

This theme is carried into the New Testament as well:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Finally, you must have something in your mind on which to meditate. If I’m not mistaken, and pardon the somewhat crude comparison, but the basic meaning of meditation has to do with thinking over and over on a matter like a cow who “chews the cud”. The cow eats a quantity of grass and it goes into a compartment to be used later. Then it brings it back up again and really chews on it before digesting.

Have you ever noticed that when you see a cow it always seems to be chewing something? The reason is because cows must chew their food twice in order to digest it properly. Cows spend nearly eight hours out of every day chewing their cud. This plus normal chewing of food can total upwards of 40,000 jaw movements per day!

Wow, what if WE would chew over the Words of God in our minds like that every day! This world would be radically changed and true revival would spread across our land! So for today let’s begin the important practice of memorizing and meditating on God’s Word.

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