“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” — Joshua 1:8

“What does it mean to meditate in God’s word? It means to slow way down the reading pace, and to contemplate every word and phrase, looking for deeper and fuller meanings. It’s through meditation that we unlock the hidden riches of God’s word.

“The secret place is our time to dig. We uncover various layers of rich understanding as we go deeper and deeper, pondering each word, and turning the phrases over and over. I always assume that every verse has more significance to it than I have yet discovered. Meditation is the art of digging out the most that we can from each and every word.

“From His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). The source of illumination is God’s mouth. He must speak to us. So as we meditate in His word, we get in the Spirit and then cry from our hearts, ‘Lord, talk to me!’ We realize that without His help we will never unlock the riches of His magnificent word.

“There is so much more depth to Scripture than what readily meets the eye at the first reading. Some truths will never be found until you take the time to sit and stare at the text, carefully considering its contents and implications. Apparent contradictions sometimes contain the greatest truths.

“When a sentence or phrase appears to make no apparent contribution to the passage, I will gaze upon it to consider why the Holy Spirit included it. When a verse seems to be purposely oblique or mysterious, my curiosity gets aroused. When a verse appears to be blatantly obvious, I become suspicious that there may be depths of truth therein that I could all too easily overlook.

“The one who meditates in God’s word will slowly transform the inner well from which his soul draws.

“Jesus said, ‘A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:45). Because of our sinfulness, all of us have deposits of ‘evil treasure’ within us. But by meditating in the word, we are depositing ‘good treasure’ within our inner being.

“In church, you receive insights that have been processed first through another human channel. The sweetest morsels, however, are those which Jesus gives directly to your own heart. When the Holy Spirit custom-fits the word to your life circumstances, the sustaining power of His personalized word has the ability to carry you through great tribulation. This is the true fountain of life!

“Proverbs 16:26 describes the process whereby the Lord will get you addicted to His word: “The person who labors, labors for himself, for his hungry mouth drives him on.” The Lord starts by feeding you with His word. His word will satiate your appetite like nothing else. But it also kindles an incredible hunger for more.

“Once you’ve tasted of how sweet the Lord is, you’re ruined for life. You’ve got to have more!…You are driven to the place of meditation by your own hunger. Being with Jesus in the secret place, gazing upon Him in the word, becomes your all-time favorite occupation in life.”—Bob Sorge

My Prayer

“Lord, continue to ’ruin me’ by saturating my desire with an incredible appetite for more and more of Your Word. My internal being must be continually restructured and I know this will come from sitting long with You and Your Word. Oh Lord, You are so sweet. How I enjoy my times of reflecting and digging into Your Word. Such nourishment. Such deep satisfaction. Such revelation. May nothing else satisfy me like these deep times alone with You. Show me deeper and deeper truth hidden in Your Word. Help me slow down my pace of reading so that I may fully soak You in through Your Word. Yes Lord, You have ‘ruined’ my desires in a good way. No one else comes close to satisfying me, outside the voice of God spoken through Your Word. Amen.”

The Challenge

Stop depending on others to feed you. Get into lonely places with God and let the voice of God satisfy you. Make a daily determination not to rush in and out of God’s presence. Fix your times with God and by God’s grace—try to stick to it. Give God time. Dwell with Him through His Word. Reflect. Meditate. Embrace. Soak in the Word. Amen.