The Fruit of Meditation
How blessed is the man (whose) . . . delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2
The importance of meditating upon the Word of God cannot be overestimated, though it is foreign to most Christian leaders by their own admission. To meditate on the law of God is to pensively reflect upon the realities of divine revelation so intently that they bring conviction, repentance, encouragement, courage, and soul-satisfying joy in Christ. The man who desires God above all else will fill his mind with holy musings of Christ’s infinite perfections, love, and promises. Grace and glory will dominate his heart; his life will be ruled by the Word of God, the unfailing love of Christ will be the constant topic of his conversations, for indeed, “the book of the law [will] not depart from [his] mouth” (Josh. 1:8). The inferior pleasures of this world, as enticing as they can be, will increasingly lose their appeal, and with the hymn writer he will sing:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
in the light of His glory and grace.
This is the “blessed . . . man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers” (Ps. 1:2-3). We must never forget that success is conditioned upon courage through obedience, and these virtues grow strong in the rich soil of meditation. The godly Puritan warrior of the faith, Thomas Manton, described it this way:
Meditation is when we exercise ourselves in the doctrines of the word, and consider how truths known may be useful to us . . . an act of knowledge reiterated, or a return of the mind to that point to which it arrived before; it is the inculcation or whetting of a known truth, the pause of reason on something already conceived and known, or a calling to remembrance what we know before . . . the end of study is information, but the end of meditation is practice, or a work upon the affections . . . the fruit of study is to hoard up truth, but the fruit of meditation is to practice it.
Every faithful pastor and church leader will find his greatest joy in relationship with Christ, an intimacy that will nourish his soul and strengthen his resolve to carry on the fight. Only then will he be “strong and courageous”; only then will he “not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:6-9). Meditation is essential to godly character development—the Spirit-empowered disposition of the inner man to pursue holiness for the glory and enjoyment of God. This will have a unique quality for a warrior preacher—a true biblical preacher who, unlike many today, fearlessly expounds the whole of Scripture without compromise, despite the culture’s militant antipathy toward him and the message he proclaims. Without a godly character wholly yielded to the indwelling Spirit that brings truth to bear upon his mind and will, his flesh will rule both his life and ministry and also his congregation’s. May we all so delight in and meditate on the law of the Lord that it shapes every fiber of our being.
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