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Morning Thoughts |
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Morning Thoughts |
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I Timothy
4:15, "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy
profiting may appear unto all." This morning, the world is a very noisy place. With an excessive amount of stimulants in the world, quiet time and peaceful repose are getting harder and harder to find. Due to this and other factors, there is a marked decline in a very personal area of discipleship and fellowship with God. Our assembling together in worship is spiritually social, and our prayers can be made at times in the presence of others. We discuss the Scriptures with one another, and sit together to hear the heralding of the gospel. Indeed, sometimes prayers are private, study is private, etc., but these things can take on atmosphere of Christian fellowship. Yet, the area of meditation is, by its very nature, a private thing that an individual has with his Redeemer, Maker, and Father. This personal feel makes meditation a difficult subject to wrap our arms around sometimes, but nevertheless, it is a most needful thing to discuss and perform. Meditation can be succinctly defined as quiet contemplation or musing. Whenever I think of the word, I generally have a visual reference in my mind of Auguste Rodin's stone sculpture called "The Thinker." While the pose is not necessary for meditation, the very nature of quiet contemplation is thoughtful care and devotion. Paul instructs the young minister to meditate upon these things, and they are things he has already instructed the young man into giving attendance to. In verse 13 of this same chapter, Paul describes three areas for attendance: reading, exhortation, and doctrine. These are the things that meditation should revolve around. What have we read lately from God's word? What have we heard lately in exhortation and doctrine from the pulpit or in our daily studies of the Book? Those things should be musing in our minds more than just the time we heard them spoken or read them written. As we mentioned earlier, meditation is a hard subject to discuss to its full extent. The personal aspects of the subject make for different situations for different people. For example, if I wanted to discuss the full extent of election or predestination, I could quickly go to Romans 8 and Ephesians 1 to give the full scope of those two subjects, how they were performed, when they were performed, etc, etc. Because they are, by their nature, identically drawn for every object for whom they were delivered, they can be described quite capably in short order. However, if I were to try to give the full scope of the providence of God, I would fail trying, for what verse/passage gives the full extent of His providential dealings with His people? As we have different personalities, different stations in life, etc, we need different things daily from Him. The same quandary exists in trying to describe the full extent of meditation and quiet musing with God. Each person is different, processes things differently, thinks differently, etc. My meditations may take my thoughts in a different direction than another man's may. However, if they are Godly meditations and musings, we will both find sound, profitable, and edifying ground. Foolish and vain meditations will yield unfruitful ground that edifies not, but our walk with God in our thoughts and yearnings may take us to different fields, which is one of the reasons why different preachers' preaching is different (different fields from meditation). The main point is that we should be found in quiet contemplation and musing of God's word and His gospel in our daily walk. We may not all think about the same things (we may be reading different portions of the Bible at times), but we need to be musing on these things for the encouragement of growth in our plant. The reason that meditation is so needful and profitable is that it creates an effect in our lives. Paul said that if Timothy would devote large portions of his time to this activity (give thyself wholly to them), his profiting would appear to all. One of the benefits of meditation is that it makes a difference in our appearance to others (not that we do it for that reason, but it is an effect). One of the reasons that the profiting appears to all is because meditation acts as a fertilizer to our ground. It takes God to bring the life and the increase, but we are responsible for keeping our ground rowed up and ready to receive the seed (prayer, study, and attendance in God's house). It takes preaching to sow different seeds in our ground and watering to continue to nurture the seed (more preaching and teaching). However, meditation will take those things which we have heard and read and cause them to blossom and grow more than they would have without it. Have you ever seen a garden that was only partially fertilized? I recall as a young boy looking at the garden of one of the deacons of the church, and about a quarter of his field was noticeably shorter and stunted than the rest. When asked about this disparity of growth, he admitted that the day he fertilized rain came up as he was finishing his work. The rain washed away most of his efforts at the end of the garden, and it showed later as the plants grew up. They all still bore fruit, but the fertilized sections of the garden were taller, more fruitful and abounding in the harvest. We may rejoice in the preaching and enjoy good reading in our Bibles, but there needs to be good, quiet contemplation to fertilize what we are receiving. There is an expression I used to hear the old fathers say as a young boy about the preacher. When they would pray or introduce the speaker and request prayers on his behalf, they would declare, "Lord, bless this man's subject to grow on him." What they meant by that was that there would be more there than even the man (at that point) knew. Whenever we meditate upon what we have heard and learned, the subject begins "to grow" on us. As we chew on those fat things of God's table, it grows and swells as more and more nuggets are seen and found in the rich pasture of God's word. As we meditate upon these things, we will manifestly grow to the declaration of those around us. It was not hard to spot the fertilized sections of the old deacon's garden. They were taller. It is not hard to detect those that read, study, and meditate. They are full of rich thoughts and profitable, fruitful discussions of God's word, glory, and goodness in their lives. One might then say, "What if I'm not a preacher? Aren't preachers the ones that are supposed to meditate about the things they are going to preach about?" Undoubtedly, preachers should be found in deep contemplation of their studies, both for the purpose of preaching and for personal growth in Christian service. However, what is good for the speaker is good for the hearer as well. The very next verse declares that Timothy's actions could both save him and those that heard him. If Timothy's profiting was to appear to all, then that saved those around him that heard him, saw him, and took notice of his walk. What is the course of all that hear the blessed message of Christ Jesus and Him crucified? Go thou and do likewise, for He has done so very much for us. If the minister needs to pray, so do the hearers. If the minister needs to study, so do the hearers, and if meditation is good for the profiting of the minister, it will be good for the profiting of the hearers as well. People noticed that Abraham was a Friend of God (his profiting appeared to all), and people knew that Enoch walked with God (his profiting appeared to all). May people take note of the fact that our minds are continually fertilized with the musing of spiritual things so that they take note and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Who doth know that perhaps the manifestation of our quiet meditation will both save us and those that see us in our walk? In Hope,  Bro Philip |