“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7)
How do we remain rooted and flourishing through the dark times? Meditate on God’s word.
As recorded at St. Luke’s
Resilience to face Dark Times?
We are at present going through a series called, Spirituality for Dark Times. Thinking about how the way we connect with God can help us cope with the difficulties that we may face in life.
Not that we only turn to God when we are going through tough times. Actually, the point of the Psalm we are looking at today, is that it is through regular connection with God throughout our lives, that we become people who can cope with difficulties in life when they occur. In other words that by connecting with God, through our spiritual practices we build up resilience.
The truth is, though, that people today are becoming less and less resilient. The increase in depression and anxiety among young people is not because they are suffering more than past generations. Very few are shipwrecked on a freezing island. The problem is that they have less ability to cope with the pressures and problems when they come. They have less resilience.
Why is this? Many increasingly and persuasively argue that this increase is linked to the advent of mobile phones and social media. Part of the problem is that these feed us a disjointed stream of information and attitudes that reflect the latest fads and fancies of the age and very rarely anything of real substance or meaning, let alone anything of the God who created us and loves us so much he sent his Son to die for us.
The result is that our more impressionable young people are left rootless in their thinking and many of the rest of us do not fare much better. You will never become resilient by spending your time on social media – yet, that is where a lot of us spend our time.
Contrasting Ways and Destinations
Social media did not exist, when Psalm 1 was written. Yet, there was still a choice of who you listened to and who you allowed yourself to be influenced by. The Psalm presents a very clear choice between two ways: being influenced by the wicked, sinners and mockers or delighting and meditating on God’s words. It then clearly contrasts the two distinct destinations.
Those who listen to the wicked it says, ends up like chaff. Chaff was the bits of dried-up vegetation that got mixed up with the grain when it was harvested. You wanted the grain to make flour, but you didn’t want the chaff – it was just rubbish. It was also lightweight, so what they did was to throw the harvested grain into the air, so that the chaff blew away and the wheat fell back down into the ground.
To be like chaff, is to be lightweight, to have no stability, value or purpose. It is to be easily blown around by whatever difficulties or struggles come. Ultimately, the Psalm says such people will not be able to stand before the judgement of God. This is the complete opposite of resilience.
In stark contrast, however, those who delight and meditate on God’s word are compared to a tree planted by streams of water. Such a tree is immovable, solid, rooted. No matter how strong the winds of difficulties blow, it will stand strong. No matter how much the drought of dark times come, its leaves will not whither. This is a powerful picture of the truly resilient of those who still flourish and prosper, even when times are tough. Isn’t this the kind of people we want our youngsters to become. Isn’t this what we want to be like? The Psalm begins by describing such people as “blessed”. That is to have a happiness that flows from a sense of well-being and rightness with our souls.
What’s the secret? How do we become such blessed and resilient people? Not by spending time with mockers or scrolling though social media, but with a spirituality that listens intently to God through his word. That is what the Psalm commends. And I want to focus in on that way to resilience as laid out in verse 2:
“but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)
The Way to Resilience: Delight and Meditation
The ‘Law of the LORD’ refers to the scriptures. Not just the commands and guidance but the story of God’s work amongst us. For the Psalmist he probably meant just the first five books of the Bible, but we can easily take it now to refer to the whole of the Bible.
But what does he mean by ‘delight’ and ‘meditate’.
Delight in God’s Word
The word, ‘delight’ talks about the passion of the heart. You could almost translate it as ‘fall in love with’. Indeed, the word is used for someone falling love with Dinah, Jacob’s daughter.
You fall in love with someone, because they are beautiful and amazing and you love spending time with them.
Psalm 19 is a classic Psalm about God’s word and it certainly delights in it as something beautiful and deeply valuable, it almost reads like a love poem:
“The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring for ever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
(Psalm 19:7-11)
Do you see the amazing value of God’s word? So much so that you want it for yourself and others? Just as you might want to spend time with someone you are in love with, do you want to spend time with God’s word?
Throughout history, people have shown great desire and sacrifice to hear God’s word. In the first description of the early church, Luke says,
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching ….” (Acts 2:42) in other words to God’s word.
Throughout the history of the church, both pre and post reformation the reading of scripture was foundational to religious life, with the Medieval monasteries, copying and preserving the scripture in Europe through more illiterate times.
The leaders of the reformation were passionate about getting the scriptures to people so they could read it in their own language. William Tyndale, who was the man most responsible for translating the Bible into English, was burned at the stake for his efforts.
More recently, Brother Andrew, a Dutch Christian spent years smuggling Bibles into the communist block despite the dangers of arrest and imprisonment by the authorities.
All of this shows a passion, a delight about God’s word, because they know how valuable it is. Only regular engagement with God’s word brings true blessing, resilience and flourishing in life. The more we can grasp this passion and desire, the more we will be motivated to spend time in God’s word.
Meditate on God’s Word
So, how are we to engage with God’s word? Psalm 1 says we are to ‘meditate’ on it. Three aspects of the word, ‘meditate’ as used in the Bible are worth emphasising:
Firstly, the word ‘meditate’ here does not really mean sitting in silence reflecting on God’s word. Often the word is translated as to speak.
So, in Proverbs 8, the same word is translated as ‘speak’:
“My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.” (Proverbs 8:7)
Actually, in ancient times, no-one read silently. They would always read out loud. You may even like to try reading scripture out loud yourself. You might find you engage with it more effectively than reading it quietly. Just as in other Psalms, the psalmist talks to his soul, we can read scripture to ourselves as a way of talking to ourselves.
But, secondly, to meditate is to take things more fully into our hearts, than just to speak them. In another Proverb it says:
“The heart of the righteous weighs (or ponders) its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.” (Proverbs 15:28)
This is not just reading Scripture but thinking about its meaning more deeply as we have to give answers to life’s questions.
Thirdly, to meditate is to listen in order to learn how to live.
When Joshua took over the leadership of Israel from Moses, God said to him:
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8)
As James says in the New Testament:
“”Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)
Meditation then is an active spoken engagement with the word, in order to grapple with the issues of life and learn how to live for God in our world.
In fact, if you want to see examples of how to meditate on Scripture, the Psalms, themselves, are a great example.
Let’s just recall the three Psalms we have already looked at. As the writer faces struggles in life, each time he goes back to God’s word.
Take Psalm 103:
“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
(Psalm 103:7-8)
The Psalmist explicitly refers to Moses and God revealing his character to Moses, as he struggles with the darkness of his life, he is encouraged by a reminder of what God is really like.
Or Psalm 143, again as he cries out to God for mercy, the writer thinks back on what he has learnt about God’s past actions from Scripture:
“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”
(Psalm 143:5)
Or Psalm 130, where the Psalmist is learning to wait on God, he gains confidence to do so, through the truth of God’s goodness learnt from his word:
“But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:4-5)
So, how might you meditate on God’s word?
Firstly, read it. Lots of it. The more of Scripture you read, the more of it you will understand and the more you will be able to bring to mind when you come to God in prayer or ponder how to live for God in this life. You don’t have to read lots at once. You can read most Bible chapters in a few minutes. If you do one a day over four years, you will have read the whole Bible. And remember the Bible is a library of books, not just one book. So, as an initial starting point aim to read just one book of the Bible over a period of time. I know last year Claire encouraged many of you to read Luke through Advent, just one chapter a day. A great idea, although the chapters in Luke are longer than most books! When you finish one book, choose a different one. Or if you want to be more ambitious choose to follow one of the many Bible in a year reading schemes you can find online.
Secondly, ponder it. You may find it helpful to read what others have said about a passage and there are lots of Bible reading notes online or in booklet form that can help you think more fully about a passage. This can be particularly helpful if you are starting out on Bible reading. But why not write down what God is teaching you through a particular Bible passage in a journal of some kind. That kind of deeper engagement can make a real difference.
Thirdly, pray that God will help you to learn from scripture and change your life to better follow God’s ways. We are to meditate on scripture not just study it. We are to let it transform our lives, not just see it as an interesting academic exercise. Are there things the passage shows you that you need to confess to God? Are there things that it shows you where you need to change your thinking or attitude about God, the world or others? Are there things that encourage you when life is tough?
The Choice
The method of meditation is not ultimately what matters. What matters is real transformational engagement.
That is the choice that Psalm 1 presents to us. Do we want to be like chaff, lightweight rubbish that blows away in the wind? Or do we want to be like a tree planted by streams of water, stable, secure, resilient and flourishing?
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 