Monday 29th August 2016 - Daily Reading:
Psalm 1 - Meditate on His Law
We are about to begin a journey through the Psalms, often called the Bible’s Hymn book. The Psalms were written by several authors mostly between 1000 and 450 BC. They are not presented in the order they are written but instead, grouped into five major collections.
Psalm 1 is the introduction to the first collection of Psalms. It gives a summary of the two choices open to everybody: the way of the righteous, or the way of the wicked. We read that the righteous person loves God’s law and meditates on it day and night. What does it mean for us as Christians to ‘meditate’ on God’s law, or on his word?
In eastern religions, the goal of meditation is to become detached from everything and to empty the mind. In Biblical meditation, the goal is to become attached to God, and fill our minds with his word. Yes, meditating on the word of God can help us to escape the noise and busyness of the world, but rather than leaving us empty, it leaves us full of Godly thinking, and becomes part of the process of the transformation of our minds to make us more Christ-like.
Each day, while we look at Psalms, we are going to choose a verse to meditate on. Begin with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and heart to see, understand and respond to the word. Read the scripture several times, aloud if you like, remembering that these are God’s words to us. As you read, look for opportunities to worship, to learn, to be encouraged and motivated and to be transformed.
You may wish to write notes in a journal about what God is saying to you through the verse. Look for opportunities to respond, by confession and repentance, by worship, by obedience or through prayer. If possible, memorise the verse and continue to think it over ‘day and night’.
Meditation verse: That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.