Bible Stories, Prayer and Meditation

"Blessed is the man ...[whose] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1: 1-2 ESV

Though we know this verse, in our business, we rarely seem to find time to meditate on God's Word.

Just what is meditation anyway?

The actual Hebrew word, I'm told, means to murmur it, to speak it aloud.

In English we might say to "ruminate" on the word or to mull it over at length.

The ultimate aim of biblical meditation is our conformity to Jesus Christ who Himself epitomizes the "Blessed Man" of Psalm 1.

To slow our hurried pace through scripture reading and to turn our latest exercise in Bible Speed Reading into a time of actual meditation on God's instruction as commended to us in Psalm 1, usually some "brakes" need to be placed on us.

A Reformation precedent for this is seen in Martin Luther's Letter to his Barber on Prayer which you might wish to read if you've never read it before.

Luther's practice is similar to what I have done with church members as part of "Bible Study" or with my wife and children for "family devotions".

This relates to Bible Stories as a way to apply them after the telling of the story and after a discussion of key concepts within the story. Like any Bible Study, unless it affects our lives by conforming them to Christ, it's of questionable worth.

We read or tell the Bible Story and then ask A-C-T-S

"What do we find in this story that prompts me to

Adore the Lord?

Confess my sin?

Thank the Lord?

Seek God's help through prayer? (Supplication)

I find this is best used when I can actually spend some time writing down topics under each category in a notebook.

The main point is that this exercise of writing slows me down long enough to actually meditate. The writing's not absolutely necessary. The meditation is.

But when I actually identify these things, like Luther, I believe it's important to pray them. If we only IDENTIFY items to align under A,C,T, & S we can end up engaging in speculation but forget to actually PRAY.

Martin Luther returned to the basics of prayer whenever he felt spiritually cold and joyless.

If that describes you, I commend this simple practice to warm your heart with praise, confession, thanksgiving, and a fresh commitment to seek God's help.