[Darris McNeely] You’ve heard the saying, “Life comes at you fast”? Wow. So often it does. That saying is definitely true. So much information, so much activity we try to pack into our lives, that we barely have time to stop, take it all in, digest what we have been through, what we’ve read or what we’ve experienced.

You know, I was recently looking at an article where the author was talking about – he had taken a five-day retreat, a course that he paid good money for, on the art of meditation. And after five days, he said for the first time in his life, he had learned how to be what he called “mindful”. In other words, to kind of pay attention to himself, his inner thoughts, and to just slow down. This was a high-powered, fast-charging type of an executive. Well, most of us don’t have the opportunity to take a five-day refresher course or a retreat on meditation, but there is something that we do need to learn about that.

We are at key number 13 in our series on how to understand the Bible. Key 13 in this series is to review what you read and study the Bible and meditate on it. Review, look it over, take a second reading, and meditate. And meditation is not something that you have to kind of get into a special mood or position or setting for. It just requires that we kind of slow down and we take the time to think through what we have been reading and especially when it comes to the Bible, we have to set aside time. We have to turn off the television. We have to shut down the computer. We have to find a quiet spot, yes, and make that time, but think about what we’ve read. Maybe even write it down – we talked earlier about taking notes on what you read.

But without this particular key, so much of what we study and take in about the Bible may just get lost and kind of shoved out with all the other busyness of life. So take time to think about what you’ve been learning. And if something does seem hard to understand, well, again, go back over some of the other points that we have talked about in this series. Seek guidance. Seek out a minister, someone who is knowledgeable about the Bible. Read that particular passage in a different translation. Let the Bible interpret itself. And certainly pray to God for understanding and insight into a passage, into a concept that might be difficult for you to wrap your mind around.

But this idea of reviewing and meditating is embedded within the Scriptures itself, to teach us about this. I’d like to take the time to look at a couple of sections of Scripture that really do talk about this. The first one is from Psalm 119:97-98. And it says, “O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” The author here is talking about thinking about the law of God, how it is applied to one’s personal life, how it would make a world of difference if only a handful of people in the world would live by the law of God and how much good could flow from that. It goes on, “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me.” They’re ever with us because we think about them and we reflect upon them and they become something that is written then upon our heart.

Second verse is in Psalm 139:17-18. “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.” Precious are the thoughts of God.

Take the time to meditate. Slow down. Set aside a quiet space and a quiet time. You don’t have to take a five-day course and go through some expensive or tedious system to learn this art. Let God talk to you in that way. Take the time to review and meditate – it’ll open up an understanding of the Scriptures. And something that will come about then is it will stay with you for a much, much longer period of time.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.