The Discipline of Meditation     JOSHUA 1:6-8As God instructed Joshua about how the Israelites would take possession of the Promised Land, He included a vital instruction: to meditate on His law day and night and to obey everything it said. This would guarantee success.

Meditation is still crucial for believers today. In our culture, we are inundated by worldly values and godless priorities. Unless we guard our hearts, they will slowly begin to accept these unrighteous standards.

Therefore, we should discipline ourselves to meditate daily upon God’s Word, focusing our attention on His character and His ways. This involves prayerfully reading Scripture, being silent before the Lord so we can hear from Him, and applying biblical truth to our lives.

Of course, these things don’t just happen. Distractions take away from our ability to focus, so it is necessary to set aside a time when we can be still and listen. Consider the benefits of doing so. Meditation . . .

• Quiets our spirit and provides an avenue for God to purify our hearts.
• Develops a hunger for the Word so we can gain deeper understanding of Jesus and greater sense of His power.
• Improves our discernment about direction for our lives.
• Sharpens our awareness of His presence.

Meditation may involve a small sacrifice of rising earlier or giving up free time during the day. But living a Christ-centered life filled with peace and joy depends upon our commitment to focus our minds and hearts on Him regularly. Are you willing to discipline yourself to set aside time each day?

Expect Trouble

In the world you will have tribulation.

John 16:33

Are you asking why this should be, believer? Look upward to your heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Do you know that you are one day to be like Him? Will you easily be conformed to His image? Will you not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify you? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions and make you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect?

Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what foes you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think that Satan will leave you alone? No, he will always be at you, for he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”¹ Expect trouble, then, Christian, when you look beneath you.

Then look around you. Where are you? You are in enemy country, a stranger and an alien. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God’s friend, for whoever is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be certain that you will find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, remember that you are resting on the battlefield; when you travel, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so the trials of earth will be sharpest to you.

Lastly, look within you, into your own heart, and observe what is there. Sin and self are still within. If you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to ensnare you, you would still find in yourself enough evil to be a sore trial to you, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”² Expect trouble then, but do not despair on account of it, for God is with you to help and to strengthen you. He has said, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”³

¹1 Peter 5:8
² Jeremiah 17:9
³ Psalm 50:15