What type of Bible reader are you? Do you tend to read it hurriedly when you have a few minutes to spare, getting through it as fast as you can? Or are the type of person who prefers to take time and think about what you’re reading? Most of us probably fall somewhere between the two, or change the way we reading depending on our mood. Sometimes it’s beneficial to read a large chunk of the Bible and get an overview of what’s going on. But we mustn’t underestimate the importance of meditating on God’s Word. We might think of meditation as something un-Christian or supernatural, or something difficult and mysterious that only scholars and ‘spiritual’ people do. But really it just means thinking deeply and continuously about a passage of Scripture, letting it take root, and asking God to reveal His meaning in those words. We come across people who seem to have memorised virtually the whole Bible off by heart, but the point isn’t how much Scripture we memorise, it’s what happens to us in the process. Meditating on God’s Word helps us understand what He’s saying to us and why we should change our behaviour to become more Christlike. It broadens our thinking and helps us to make connections we might not have noticed before. The psalmist wrote: ‘The Law of the Lord makes them happy, and they think about it day and night. They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves’ (Psalm 2-3 CEV). Meditating on God’s Word is a powerful tool we can use to help us get closer to Him and learn to recognise His will and His voice.
