‭‭Psalm‬ ‭1

“[1] Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. [2] But his delight is in the law of the LORD; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. [3] And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. [4] The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. [5] Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. [6] For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

From our family devotion last night:

“Biblical meditation is not an emptying of one’s mind, but a filling of one’s mind and thoughts with the word of God.”

“The word “meditate” used in this Psalm denotes a “verbalized rumination,” like a pigeon cooing repetitively, a gentle murmuring. The same word is also linked to chewing the cud—the process by which a cow eats grass in such a way as to extract all the nutrients.

Or, perhaps, it’s easier to think of it like sucking a hard sweet rather than crunching it; if we suck the sweet we allow all the flavours to coat our mouth and we end up fully tasting the sweet. Sometimes in my daily Bible read I can crunch my way through the text rather than stopping to meditate and absorb the full flavour of what I am reading.”