As we have seen throughout this series of Notes, the Biblical practice of meditation is not at all passive, but rather involves the use of all our God-given faculties to ponder God Himself, His works, and His words. In particular, in Psalm 119 the psalmist was spiritually fed, enlightened, and strengthened by meditating on the word of God.

Yet, whereas in Eastern religions there is extensive instruction on how to meditate, there is no such instruction in the Bible; it simply gives us examples of ones who practiced meditation in the Biblical way. This shows us that, in contrast to Eastern meditation, in Biblical meditation it is not the practice that matters, but the content, namely, the fact that in our meditation we are contacting God.

Still, we can gain some insight into how the Old Testament saints meditated on the Scriptures when we see that both of the Hebrew words used for “meditation” in the Old Testament carry the sense not only of “meditate” or “muse,” but also the sense of “to speak” in one way or another. For example, hāḡâ (Strong’s #H1897) is translated “meditate” in this verse:

But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
— Psalm 1:2

But in a different verse the same Hebrew word is translated “utter”:

My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,
Nor will my tongue utter deceit.
— Job 27:4

When we understand the dual sense of these words, we learn a secret of how the Old Testament saints practiced meditating upon the Scriptures: as they were meditating, they often were not just praying silently, but instead, speaking openly and praying the word back to God.

In brief, they were turning the word into prayer, considering it and opening to the Lord from deep within, to ask Him to show them its meaning:

Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
— Psalm 119:34

And this same practice of turning the word into prayer can and should be a great source of spiritual strength to us today, as we shall consider in the next Note in this series.

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—  29 January 2025 —