The last in this series of “Five ways to get the Bible into your heart and life” to discuss is “Meditate.” “Meditate” in this sense does not mean “a mind-body, deep state of relaxation” but rather “to think deeply or carefully, to consider, focus.” The highlighted verses from Psalms 1 show the focus of the chapter is not really on those who do not walk in the way of the Lord, but rather, on those who do and how that happens. Therefore this holds an important clue in how to more closely follow Jesus’ teaching on how to live as a Christian with the Bible genuinely in the heart and life.

“Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

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.

For one thing, taking delight in the Lord and meditating on His words brings fruitfulness.

Another thing to notice here is the contrast between absorbing and meditating on the ways and thoughts and words of the world—walking in the steps of the wicked, standing in the place of the sinners, sitting in the seat of the mockers, scoffers—versus taking delight in and meditating on the words of the Lord. The contrast here is between people who absorb or are fed by the world around them, and of those being fed by the words of the Lord: which way is actually feeding the soul of the person? Which one prospers the person? Which way brings fruitfulness and life? Meditating on the word of God.

Jesus said to His disciples: “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (John 4:32). After being asked by the disciples what food that was, Jesus replied,“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” This is Jesus speaking about being nourished by the word of God and by His relationship with the Father through prayer. This nourishment from the Word and prayer is how He was able to know and do the will of the Father. Don’t forget, that when Jesus walked the earth, although He was God and came from heaven, He had set aside His Godhood and lived as a man, needing to pray and hear from the Holy Spirit and live out what He read and meditated on in the Scriptures, just as we are to do today. (Phil 2:6-8)

He modeled that for us and that is what we must do.

We live in a world in step with the wicked and filled with mockers and scoffers, all of which are calling out loudly for us to join in with them. Instead, to follow Jesus better we need to “delight” in the word of the Lord and meditate on it, day and night.

Even if we don’t actually know what all is meant in Phil 2 when Paul writes that Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself,” we do know that the section starts out with the instruction that we “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus “ (Phil. 2:5). Let us follow that model we find in Jesus of being filled and nourished by the Word and taking delight there, rather than taking delight and nourishment from the world system and its ways.