Worship, War, and Wisdom: Church Planting Lessons From Davidનમૂનો

Meditation is a word we often associate with Eastern religion. However, it is an ancient biblical practice that David used constantly in his walk with God. What does it mean to meditate?

To dwell. On a concept, a word, a verse, an image. David would sit and take in the world around him. David would write. He would have an idea and capture it. He would stop and imagine it. He would turn it into a song. David would take time to dwell on ideas. To dwell on words. He often reflected on the beauty of the Lord in nature. He would turn it into a poem.

He didn’t have photography, but he captured images through his writings. “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” Psalm 42:1.

Church planting is an emotional roller coaster –jubilance and disappointment, excitement and mundane, abundance and need. Meditation steadies the heart and focuses the mind on things above.

How do we translate this into our modern life? It starts with unhurried time. Time to gaze at beauty. Time to meditate on a word or an idea. Not rushing past it, but stopping and focusing on a concept that speaks to us in the moment. Reading the Bible slower. Reading for connection.

I encourage you as we journey with David to write. Journal thoughts, scriptures, scripture thoughts. Maybe you haven’t written poetry in a long time, and something you read inspires you to write a few verses. Or maybe a word inspires an image that you can draw or capture in a picture. Take time to dwell on a thought or idea. Give yourself space to think, feel, and capture it. See what God produces in you as you meditate on his Word.