Worldly meditation primarily focuses upon clearing the mind and making it devoid of thought. The Bible reveals the opposite process. Today’s passage comes from a more extensive letter that Paul sent to his son in the faith, Timothy. In this letter, Paul encouraged Timothy to be an example to those around him. As a young man, Timothy was instructed not to allow his youth to hinder his service to the Lord. In Paul’s absence, Timothy was to major upon three things: reading, exhortation, and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13). Paul told Timothy to “meditate upon these things” (1 Timothy 4:15), or give himself wholly to them. In doing so, Timothy’s profiting would appear to all.
When a believer meditates upon the things of God, those truths become more firmly planted in the heart. Eventually, the contents of the heart become evident from the words that escape the mouth (Luke 6:45). Therefore, the meditations of our heart will eventually be the words of our conversations. This is exactly the truth conveyed by Asaph in our passage from Psalm 77. He understood that meditation upon the work of God would eventually cause him to talk of God’s doings. It is right for God’s people to speak truth, especially when it concerns testifying to the truth of God’s holy words. Yet, this is not possible unless a believer first hides the words of God in his heart (Psalm 119:11), and one way to do so is through meditation.
Psalm 119 is filled with statements promoting the necessity of the word of God. Seven times in this psalm we find a statement declaring the writer’s desire to meditate upon the words of God. Three of these times he states emphatically that he will meditate in God’s statutes or His precepts (Psalm 119:15, 48, 78). Not only was meditating upon God’s words something that the psalmist desired to do in the future, but he had formed this habit long ago (Psalm 119:23, 99). The writer of this psalm, like other successful believers in the past, made it common practice to meditate in the words of God both day and night (Psalm 119:97; Psalm 1:2; Joshua 1:8).
Meditation can be a godly practice, but can also express the exact opposite connotation. Nonbelievers go to great lengths to push their concept of meditation upon the world, but their meditation remains ungodly in every aspect. Rather than asking whether or not we should meditate, we should ask upon what we should meditate. Perhaps the Christian’s most important question in this matter should be, “Is my meditation pleasing to the Lord?” Interestingly, David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), prayed, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD” (Psalm 19:14). David wanted to insure that his meditation was acceptable to the Lord.
The Bible’s built-in dictionary defines meditation as taking thought. The world most often thinks of meditation in its own man-made context which is pagan in origin and practice. However, Bible-believing Christians should not allow this to discourage them from practicing scriptural meditation. Notice the phrase in today’s verse: “take no thought beforehand” followed by the word premeditate. The prefix pre means beforehand, while the word meditate means “to take thought.” Thus, a person who takes thought on something, perhaps a Bible verse or some particular truth in a sermon or a hymn of the faith, is said to be meditating. Unfortunately, far too many of our busy lives have choked out the quiet moments of meditating upon the things of God.
A zealous person is contagious, both positively and negatively. The apostle Paul cautioned that the early believers had been zealously affected, but not in a good way. Those who opposed the gospel were adamant, yet they unwisely waged war against the truth. Night and day, they zealously fought in order to hinder the ministry of the believers. Ultimately, their zeal affected the people of God. These believers who started strong were hindered by the enemies' efforts to the point that it affected their race for the Lord (Galatians 5:7). Modern day enemies of the gospel are aware of this potential pitfall for the believers. They often display more zeal than those who knowingly possess the truth. Yet, today's passage also teaches that “it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.” Zeal breeds zeal. Zeal in righteousness will yield righteous results.
People often consider sorrow as something that breeds discouragement or even depression. However, there exists another type of sorrow called godly sorrow. It serves to positively influence the lives of those devoted to Christ. In fact, godly sorrow works to develop other godly traits such as carefulness, righteous indignation, fear of God, vehement desire, and zeal in the life of the believer. When we experience sorrow of a godly sort from having failed the Lord, it helps us to learn to serve Him with renewed fervency and zeal. This truth is further validated by the biblical principle that those who are forgiven much by the Lord will love Him more (Luke 7:41-47). Those who consistently reflect upon where God brought them will experience the right type of sorrow. Further scriptural study reveals that the most zealous Christians are those who were deeply influenced by godly sorrow.
Today's passage refers to the zeal of one man. Zeal can serve to save a nation or it can cause the shedding forth of innocent blood. The book of Numbers tells of a time when Israel allowed sin into their camp and began experiencing God's wrath. Fortunately, one man took it upon himself to save the nation of Israel from God’s impending judgment. He spared a great number of lives because he was zealous to take action. It should be noted that his zeal was for the Lord’s sake (Numbers 25:11). Unfortunately, the Bible reveals others like king Saul whose zeal brought about a far different outcome. His zeal ended the lives of innocent people. According to 2 Samuel 21:2, Saul, in his zeal to the people, slew the Gibeonites bringing a famine upon God’s people in the days of David. The famine only ended when seven men of Saul’s house lost their lives.
Believers should be zealous of good works, but their zeal must not spring from a position of ignorance. The Bible points to the Jews as a zealous people, but their zeal was not according to knowledge. Nobody worked harder trying to reach a righteous state than did the Jews. However, they failed to realize that true righteousness comes as an unmerited gift from God. Yet, the Jews were “ignorant of God's righteousness,” and went “about to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3). Paul repeatedly testified concerning the futility of trying to earn God's favour through one’s own efforts (Acts 22:3; Philippians 3:6). Before Paul came to know Christ, he thought he should fight against Christ’s followers and zealously persecute the church of God. He even placed many of the new believers into prison and caused their deaths. Yet, he declared that all this was done in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13). He, like the Jews, had a tremendous zeal, but that zeal was not according to knowledge.
Zeal involves a fervent desire to accomplish some particular feat. The Bible tells us that Christ died on the cross to redeem a people who would then become zealous of good works. Every Christian should strive to be zealous in his service to the Lord. Many believers during periods of great persecution zealously gave their lives for the gospel’s sake. Acts 15:26 tells of men who “hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These people recognized that they were no longer their own but God’s. They had been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and willingly sealed that testimony with their own blood. The more the enemies of God persecuted them, the more freely the gospel spread.
