Meditation: Two more (biblical) ways to meditate

This is short and sweet. Is the Word of God the only Bible commanded way to meditate?

Actually, no. As full and as amazing as Bible meditation is, God exhorts us to meditate in two other main ways too.

• Meditate on God Himself and His ways. The passages are many that encourage us to consider the LORD and His ways and to meditate on Him. Here are a few passages using the word “remember”. Consider what is promised to you or the fruit of this type of meditation:

“Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” ~ Psalm lxiii 4-6

“thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” ~ Deut viii 18

“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm” ~ Deut. v 15

• Meditate on His works. This is a fabulously faith-stirring way to approach doubt and opposition:

“Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth” ~ 1 Chronicles xvi 12

“And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” ~ Psalm lxxvii 10-12

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” ~ Psalm cxliii 5 (This is multi-faceted meditation!).

And the way to do these two forms of meditation is simply considering God and His ways and turning thoughts over in your mind as you have learned about them in your Bible study or plan. Maybe taking a thought about God’s character that you came across in your morning reading that you want to “chew on” throughout the day, looking at what you learn about Him seen from many angles, like someone turning a precious jewel over and over in the light.

The same idea goes for meditating on His works. Take some time to think about one or two of the amazing ways God has worked in your life in the past (whether you knew Him or not) and turn those thoughts into praise and prayer for any challenges you now face.

Next time … our last in this series … we will look at a way I love to meditate most of the time nowadays.