The Power of the Word
“O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97)
Not every command in the Bible is in the form of “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not.” The command to meditate on Scripture is not, yet Scripture meditation is a way of obeying God. Obedience is how we show our love for the Lord. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
Scripture meditation will help you love Scripture more. 1 Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” The fact that people must be told to desire the word indicates that insufficient time in God’s Word is a common problem for believers. If a survey were to be taken, many Christians likely would admit they don’t spend enough time in the Bible.
Memorizing and meditating on Scripture helps us love the Bible more. Our opening verse says, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97) Apparently the psalmist really enjoyed meditating on Scripture. So the way to go from being told to “…desire the sincere milk of the word,” to enjoying Scripture meditation “…all the day.” is to memorize and meditate on Scripture.
Scripture meditation gives God an opening to speak to your heart through “…the voice of his word.” (Psalm 103:20) You can’t walk around with a Bible in your hand all day. Yet you can memorize parts of Scripture and meditate on them throughout the day. In fact, whether you read from the Bible or you memorize it verbatim and meditate on it, the benefit of getting God’s Word is the same.
Scripture meditation helps your prayer life. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and MY WORDS abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7, capitals added)
Scripture meditation will also help you in your thought-life. Proverbs 24:9 says, “The thought of foolishness is sin:” God also says in Ezekiel 11:5, “…I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.” Scripture meditation will help you be more aware of what you see and hear. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:” When you see or hear something either sinful or just a waste of time or brainpower, it’s great when the Lord convicts you by His word to avoid it.
Scripture meditation will help you to be prepared when temptation comes. Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Yet you need to memorize it so you will have it ready at hand. By way of example, when the devil tempted Jesus in the desert to turn stones into bread, the Lord didn’t pull out His Bible and look up the verse. He had it ready at hand.
If you’re a cop, you often memorize important info all the time: statutes, traffic code numbers, rules of evidence, Miranda rights. These are all important. Scripture is so much more important.
1 John 4:19 says, “We love him [Jesus], because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Jesus deserves our love. Yet He also promises to bless the one whose “…delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2) The next verse promises, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3) What a great promise!
Most importantly, Scripture tells us how to have eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. To learn more, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 6/2/2023
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822