What are some biblical examples of meditation?

Meditation opposed by the devil. The devil is an enemy to meditation; he cares not how much people read and hear, nor how little they meditate; he knows that meditation is a means to compose the heart, and to bring it into a gracious frame; now the devil is against that; Satan is content that you should be hearing and praying Christians, so that ye be not meditating Christians; he can stand your small shot, provided that you do not put in this bullet.

Meditation hindered by the world. A Christian when he goes to meditate, must lock up himself from the world. The world spoils meditation; Christ went "apart" into the mount to pray, so go apart when you are to meditate "Isaac went out to meditate in the field (Gen. 24:63). He sequestered and retired himself that he might take a walk with God by meditation. The world's music will either play us asleep, or distract us in our meditations. When a mote is gotten into the eye, it hinders the sight; when worldly thoughts, as motes are gotten into the mind, which is the eye of the soul, it cannot look up so stedfastly to heaven by contemplation. When Abraham went to sacrifice he left his servant and the ass at the bottom of the hill (Gen. 22:5), so, when a Christian is going up the hill of meditation, he should leave all secular cares at the bottom of the hill, that he may be alone, and take a turn in heaven. This is the first thing, lock and bolt the door against the world.

Meditation hindered by roving thoughts. There must be in meditation a fixing the heart upon the object; carnal Christians are like quicksilver which cannot be made to fix; their thoughts are roving up and down and will not fix; like the bird that hops from one bough to another, and stays nowhere. David was a man fit to meditate: "O God, my heart is fixed" (Ps. 108:1). In meditation there must be a staying of the thoughts upon the object: "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

Meditation and memory. The meditation of a thing has more sweetness in it than the bare remembrance. The memory is the chest or cupboard to lock up a truth, meditation is the palate to feed on it. When David began to meditate on God, it was sweet to him as marrow (Ps. 63:5-6). There is as much difference between a truth remembered, and a truth meditated on, as between a cordial in a glass, and a cordial drunk down.

Meditation and study. Meditation and study differ. Study is a work of the brain, meditation of the heart; study sets the invention on work, meditation sets the affection on work. Study is the finding out of a truth, meditation is the spiritual improvement of a truth; the one searcheth for the vein of gold, the other digs out the gold. Study is like a winter sun that has little warmth and influence: meditation leaves one in a holy frame: it melts the heart when it is frozen, and makes it drop into tears of love.

"Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." (4:4-8)

Are you ever sleepless through the night? How do you occupy your waking moments? Do you pick your Bible up and see what the Lord has to say? The psalmist seemed to do that, he says, 'Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still, be silent, give yourself to meditation. Think about this.'

Psalm 63. 1 A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 2 O God, my God (El) [art] thou; early will I seek thee. For thee thirsteth my soul, for thee longeth my flesh, in a land dry and weary without water; 3 So as I have beheld (or to see) thee in the holy place, to see thy power and thy glory; 4 Because thy mercy [is] better than life., my lips shall praise thee. 5 So will I bless thee in my life, in thy name will I lift up my hands. 6 As [with] marrow and fatness thou. wilt satisfy my soul; and [with] lips of rejoicings will my mouth praise thee. 7 When I remember thee upon my bed in nightwatches, I will meditate on thee. 8 For thou hast been a help to me, and in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice. 9 My soul cleaveth after thee; thy right hand maintaineth me, 10 And the to ruin are seeking my soul; they shall go into the depths of the earth. 11 They shall be given up to the power of the sword (lit. they shall pour him out into the hands of the sword); a portion for foxes they shall be. 12 And the king shall rejoice in God: every one that sweareth by him shall glory, for the mouth of those that speak lies shall be stopped.

Reader, it is only by being much alone with the Father, and with Him, Who is our way to the Father, that we learn to feed upon these pastures, and to lie down in those "tender herbs." "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips," (Psalm 63.) And when and where? "When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches," i.e., in the solitary seasons of the night or daybreak, when everything around is silent, and before the duties and cares of daily life have begun to claim our attention.

The leading characteristics, then, are submission (Gen. 22) and meditation (Gen. 24:63) — a placid contemplative life. There was a "submission unto death" and following therefrom were the two most important actions of unstopping the wells, and, in the close of his earthly life, the act of benediction. (Heb. 11.) So Christ, having passed through death, in a voluntary submission, unstops the sources of divine grace in resurrection, and then departs out of the world in the act of blessing His disciples. Subordinate to these are: (1) God insists on attaching the covenant to Isaac; (2.) Ishmael (or any one else) should "not be heir" with him; (3) the death of his mother, and the calling of his bride; (4) his father gives him all that he had;§ (5) the especial blessing of God rests on Isaac;§ (6) he intercedes for his wife (church). These are all typical features of more or less interest, but the great course of his life is necessarily unheroic and obscure; a "life exempt from public haunt," finding "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks." § [Gen. 25:5, 11. Gen. 25:21, for fruitfulness, see John 17]

It is exemplified in the scriptures at the head of this paper in the word meditation. The meaning of the word in the several places cited is "to talk to one's self" about the subject occupying the mind; and, as the matters in hand show, this would be carried on, as in David's case, in the presence of the Lord. Let another example be cited to show its value. In Psalm 73 we find that Asaph was troubled in his meditations upon the prosperity of the wicked. He talked it over with himself, and could not see any way out of his difficulty. It was a blot, he was tempted to think, upon the government of God, and he was filled with perplexity. Then he tells us, "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end." The lesson is that, if meditation is to be of value and for blessing, it must be exercised in the presence of God - in the sense of dependence upon Him and upon the ministry of His Spirit. Otherwise we should be lost in the mazes of human thoughts and speculations.

Obedience is always governed by the word of God. God gives strength to Joshua, in order, He says, "that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law of Moses." But besides the spiritual energy necessary to obey, there must be something more. He adds in verse 8: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein." There must then be; besides divine energy, diligent care to appropriate the thoughts of God. He says: meditate therein in order to obey. Is that our aim when we study the word of God? Often we like to read for the sake of instruction, which is of itself a good thing; at other times, so as to be able to impart to others, also an excellent thing in its place; but, let me say again, do we habitually read it for the purpose of diligently obeying? If it were so, how it would change the whole current of Christians' lives!

He adds: "Meditate therein day and night." There are some Christians who read a chapter (alas, a verse perhaps!) every morning as a sort of amulet to preserve them throughout the day. Is that meditating day and night on the word of God? What about our occupations? do you say? Well, let me ask you in return: In the midst of your occupations, is it the word given by God which nourishes you — that word given for your soul's enjoyment, and to guide you in the path of Christ? That is the way to "have good success in our ways and to prosper."

Let meditation be reduced to practice. Live over your meditation. "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law" (Joshua 1:8). Meditation and practice, like two sisters, must go hand in hand. The end of meditation is action. They who meditate in God's law, and observe not to do, are no better than the devil; he knows much, but still he is a devil.

or "Occupy thyself with these things" (New Trans.). When we read our Bibles, we miss much of the Spirit's teaching in the truth by reason of our failure to quietly consider what we have read. God, as our Father, in His great love, delights to minister Christ to us when we read His word, and the blessed Lord Jesus Christ seeks to speak to us of Himself when we are so engaged. But how much more should we receive if we meditated more upon the scriptures in the spirit of one of old who could pray "Open Thou mine eyes, and I shall behold wondrous things out of Thy law" Ps. 119:18. The Holy Scriptures abound with instances of men of God receiving spiritual enlightenment during moments of meditation, that is, when led by the Spirit, they have concentrated on the things of God to the exclusion of the affairs of earth. It was when Moses was ready to "turn aside" from the quiet task of minding the flock of Jethro, to the even more quiet occupation of looking at the burning bush, that God could call to him out of the midst of the bush and acquaint him with His intentions concerning Israel's deliverance (Ex. 3). Similarly, Daniel, when he was prepared to turn away from everything else on earth, and set his "face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications" was "informed," or enlightened, by Gabriel, and given "skill and understanding" in the truth relating to God's future dealings with His people, as bound up with the Messiah (Dan. 9:3, 20-22). Then there is the case of Peter in Acts 10:19. It was when he pondered, or "thought on the vision," which he had seen, that the Spirit of God instructed him in connection with it.

We exercise our minds when we use them for reflection and meditation. Of this the Psalms are full, speaking of meditation on God Himself, on His word and His works. (Ps. 63:6; Ps. 119:148, Ps. 77:12) It is often a valuable thing to go over again in our minds the scriptures we have recently read, the substance of an address we have heard, or some experience we have passed through to make sure that we have absorbed its special message. We do not often think of Peter as a man given to reflection, yet twice we find him so engaged at critical moments in his life. “Peter called to mind the word Jesus said to him … and when he thought thereon he wept.” (Mark 14:72) “While Peter thought (or pondered) on the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee.” (Acts 10:19)