Reclaiming The Lost Art Of Biblical MeditationSample

Meditation Gives Peace When the World Is Upended

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

She wasn’t unlike your daughter or sister or friend, a simple, fun-loving girl, wondering about marriage, excited about the future, content with a simple life in an ordinary village.

Mary loved the Lord, and she knew the Hebrew Scriptures like the back of her hand. We know that because of her recorded words in the Bible—especially her great prayer, the Magnificat, in Luke 1:46–55. It’s so full of Old Testament references and quotations it sounds as if it were lifted directly from the Psalms or the writings of the prophets.

One day, when Mary was a young adult, perhaps as she fetched water from the well at the foot of Nazareth’s hill, she turned and saw an angel. Not just any angel. It was Daniel’s angel from the Old Testament. Or, more specifically, it was Israel’s angel from the book of Daniel—the angel Gabriel. He addressed her as if she were the most important person in the world: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).

Gabriel shared incredible details about the birth of Israel’s Messiah, and he answered Mary’s questions with patience and insight. Then he came to his concluding sentence, recorded in Luke 1:37:

“For no word from God will ever fail.”

What a claim! He didn’t simply say that no message of God would fail, or that no chapter, paragraph, or sentence would fail. No, he said that not even a single word from God would ever fail to come to pass exactly as intended.

Mary had a treasury of heaven-sent truth, and she pondered it in her heart. It gave her peace when her world was upended, energy when her work was unending, hope when her outlook was bleak, composure when her stress was great, and help when her resources were low.

The same will happen to you as you learn to perpetually ponder God’s Word in your heart.

Today’s Tip

Many of our great hymns and praise songs are the products of someone who was meditating on a truth or verse of Scripture. Take a passage and convert it into your own song, poem, or prayer.