meditation – The Words Of David C. Frampton

Psalm 63 (Part Nine)

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night (63:6 NIV).

The fourth vital experience of the believer is meditation. Notice carefully the particular kind of meditation. It is not seeking an emptiness of the mind, the contemplation of peaceful scenes, or a visualization of success. David remembered and thought about God himself. Surely we ought to meditate on God’s word (Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:2; 37:31; 119:11, 15, 23, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148) and on God’s works (Psalm 77:12; 111:2; 119:27; 143:5; 145:5). But here the emphasis is meditation on God himself. It would be strange to want to read texts and emails from a person we love, to think about what he or she does, and yet neglect to think about the person who communicates and acts.

Part of our problem is our concept of God. The living God is not an advice columnist, a therapist, a doctor, a deliveryman, or a repairman. God is personal. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wants us to approach personally, and not acting like we’re ordering something off a website on our cellphone. We ought to think on the awesome God as the One who loves us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20).

How can we begin to meditate on God himself?

Think of him as he is, a personal being, and not some supernatural force. God speaks, interacts, feels, and desires us to talk to him.
Think of how God reveals himself as Father for us (Matthew 7:11; etc.) You may need to correct your thoughts about fatherhood to conform with the goodness of our Father in heaven.
Think of the way God encourages us to draw near to him boldly (Hebrews 4:16; 10:22). When we meditate on God, it must always include faith in him.
Set your desire on him. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night (Psalm 73:25 CSB).
Refresh your heart with thoughts of God’s unfailing love for you. God’s love for his chosen people is like the sun shining in its strength. O that our hearts were like the full moon, reflecting his love! People “are afraid to have good thoughts of God. They think it a boldness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, loving: I speak of saints…”! (Owen, Works, Vol. 2, p. 35)
Set apart time to meditate upon God. You can’t talk to someone unless you invest time to talk with them! That should be obvious, but we need to unclutter our hearts and lives of unnecessary activities and thoughts, to make room for God. If we can invest time in our families, friends, and other people, shouldn’t we make time to meditate on the living and true God a priority?

You see, the uncomfortable truth is do we desire God? Everything in our life, words, and actions, including the use of our time, comes from our hearts, the core of our beings. God wants our hearts.

Grace and peace, David

The Holy Spirit (Part Twenty-eight)

John 7:37-39

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (NIV).

Presently we are investigating what God says in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. As Spurgeon said years ago, “the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity” (New Park Street Pulpit, Number 1). So then, with this good purpose in mind, we will continue with this study about the Holy Spirit.

Every pastor or teacher should explain the direction of his teaching ministry from time to time. This allows people to grasp the larger context of his presentations, or to use a common illustration, it enables them to see the tree and the forest. Our method of approach in this study about the Holy Spirit is primarily that of Biblical theology—viewing God’s revelation of his person, words, and saving activity from the standpoint of God’s progressive opening of his truth to his people in redemptive history. So then, starting with the pivotal text of Acts 1:1-9, we have studied the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Scriptures, the work of the Spirit in giving the Scriptures to us, the Holy Spirit and salvation, the Holy Spirit and Christ, and now Christ’s promise of the outpouring of the Spirit, which will lead us, God willing, to the Pentecost and its meaning. Then we will be in a position to study the new covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The setting of these verses is a response by the Lord Jesus to the events of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. That festival was a happy time for God’s old covenant people—a time when they remembered their journey to the Promised Land. During the festival, there was a ceremony when a priest poured out water from a golden flagon, while a trumpet sounded joyfully. It seems that the people also sang Isaiah 12:3 in connection with that ceremony. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (NIV). On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus called out to the assembled people these memorable words that are recorded in 7:37-38. These verses are his promise of the Holy Spirit to all who believe on him. Notice the typical context. Christ’s people will be on a journey to the eternal Promised Land. As God guided them with the cloud, so the new covenant people will receive the Holy Spirit.

Regretfully, believers have not thought much about the promise of the Holy Spirit in its connection with God’s storyline in the Bible. (Remember, God’s word is the true story of God’s glory in Jesus Christ.) What did God the Father promise about the Holy Spirit? What did Christ promise? Here will see that Jesus promised that he would give the Holy Spirit to all those who come to him. The Holy Spirit would then live in each one. And we will learn about the power of this ministry. For now, read the above promise and meditate on its significance. What does the Lord Jesus want us to learn? What ought we to learn about the greatness of our God? Let our minds be stretched as contemplate this promise.

Grace and peace, David

Holy Desires (Part Three)

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers (NIV).

God urges us to delight in his counsel. The happy person delights in God’s law. What is meant by the law of the Lord? Perhaps the word law would be better translated as “instruction”. Here the psalmist intends the Scriptures; that is, God’s written revelation. They are law in the sense of binding instruction for us, since God’s instruction is not optional, but the word means more than precepts and regulations. In God’s law you find commands, narrative examples and testimony to God’s nature, plans and actions. God teaches us who he is, what his plan for his glory is in history, how to know him and draw near to him, and how to fellowship with him.

To delight is to feel great pleasure. Joy and satisfaction combine in an intense, heart-felt experience. “Wow! I like this! I can’t stop myself from wanting more.” This is what many religious people are missing. They may worship because they feel they must, but it is the wrong kind of “must”, flowing from fear or obligation and not from joy and love. Suppose I asked my wife in a melancholy or reluctant way, “Must I kiss you?” She’d probably say, “No!” But what if I said to her with desire in my voice, “I must kiss you!” That’s a far different matter!

Delight develops from experience. Delight does not happen from a legalistic prescription. It does not come from forcing yourself to read three or four chapters a day. Approaching the Bible with that attitude is more likely to produce pride in your heart than delight in God’s law. Delight occurs as the Spirit uses God’s word with his grace and causes you to sense its value and sweetness. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold… How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth (Psalm 119:72, 103)! Like coming to know God, we taste it and by grace find out how good it is (cf. Psalm 34:8).

The delight in God’s law leads the happy person to meditate on it. The word translated in verse two as “meditate” is the same word translated as “plot” in Psalm 2:1b. To meditate is to have deep reflective thought on the ideas of God’s word and to plan how those ideas can transform our character, ideas, attitudes, words, and actions. Yes, we need to apply God’s instruction to every facet of who we are and what we do. This requires a more active reading of God’s word than most Christians are accustomed to. We need to read carefully, understand fully, think intently, and then apply wisely. All of us will profit more from the Bible, if we make longer investments of time and concentration when we read it.

In other words, meditation is for people who are active, like Joshua. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:8 NIV). People who want to accomplish tasks for the glory of God need to meditate on the Scriptures. “How can God’s ideas change my world?”

Let us look intently at ourselves. In what ways are we thinking about how God’s message can transform our lives, our family, our churches, our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world? As we read the Bible this week, let’s look for ideas that will change our lives and think about how to put those ideas to work.

Grace and peace, David

A Father’s Fortress (Part One)

Proverbs 14:26-27

Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death (NIV).

Words and their meanings change over time. A fort in our day is a place of military training and a launching place for operations. Before the invention of gunpowder and modern weaponry, a fort or fortress was a place of security. When all else failed, the army and to some extent the people the army fought for could hide behind its high, thick walls for protection. A fortress would be a place of hope when all seemed hopeless.

Twenty-first-century families need fortresses in the older sense of the word. Most families are really not much more than people staying in resort hotels with cable TV and internet access. They’re strangers who might meet each other in the breakfast buffet occasionally, while they rush from one activity to another. But few families are places of security, refreshment, and hope.

In our text, the Holy Spirit points the way for a man to provide his family with a fortress. He is telling every man what must be real in him, so that we and our families can enjoy a place of security, refreshment, and hope. The Lord wants us to be encouraged and have confident expectation about the family in a time when many have lost all hope. So then, let us see how this word from God can lighten our way for us and our families. A man should fear the Lord

Some people wrongly suppose that Christians should not fear the Lord. They base this on a wrong understanding of 1 John 4:18. However, the New Testament Scriptures plainly direct us to fear the Lord (Luke 12:4-5; 1 Peter 2:17). If you read the context of First John, you will find that the apostle is talking about assurance and how the believer should not fear judgment. That is different from the fear of the Lord.

What does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to worship him—to regard his awesome power and majesty as God, Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth. The word “fear” itself operates through various shades of meaning from terror to respect to reverence to worship (cf. Jonah 1:9-10). The fear that is worship involves a person in various responses to God. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV). Notice what God wants from people in a way of life that recognizes his worth. There is an interchange between the ideas of awe and adoration (“worship”, “love”) and service and obedience (“walk”, “serve”, “obey”). See also Deuteronomy 10:20-21.

The fear of God that is worship develops in two ways: It progresses in a person’s heart as a proper response to God’s redeeming works (cf. 1 Samuel 12:24). To the new covenant believer, this means responding with joyous praise for God’s plan of redemption and forgiveness in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14). If you would fear God, take a long look at the cross, and realize the holiness, justice, and love that joined together to save us from our sins. It develops in a person’s heart as they properly read God’s word (Deuteronomy 4:10; 17:19). By a proper reading, I mean not a quick skimming but thoughtful meditation. True spirituality conforms to the Bible. As we read and think on God’s holy word, we gain a fuller, richer appreciation for his glory as God, and then we want to worship and serve him. When a guy has his mind set on buying a car, what does he do? He reads all the available info about it, talks to his friends about it, and then slips into a dealership one day to see about a test drive. He wants a full knowledge about the car. We should seek to know God better!

“When God is the object of fear, the emphasis is again upon awe or reverence. This attitude of reverence is the basis for real wisdom” (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, p. 102). Men can go on a thorough search of this whole world and discover great treasures, but in all this, we cannot find the meaning of life or what makes humans significant. God provides us with the answer. It is the fear of God that is worship that provides wisdom (Job 28:28).

In Psalm 111 we read of a man pondering all the works of the Lord, especially in his provision of redemption and faithfulness to his covenant people. When you grasp how great God is and how he is fully trustworthy, a man comes to understand that the fear that is worship is the starting point of wisdom. In Hebrew poetry, one line explains or expands or contrasts with another. Therefore, we are told in Proverbs 9:10 that the fear of the Lord consists in knowing God, which fully means knowing God in Christ (John 17:3).

The man who has a secure fortress and a fountain of life is a man who fears the Lord. This is not a fear of terror, but a fear of worship, of knowledge of God’s majesty, of framing one’s life in conformity with God’s ways. All this is based on knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and relying on redemption in him. This kind of man has a fortress for his family.

Grace and peace, David

Hope Builder’s Diet

Hebrews 10:23

The God who makes promises is the ground of hope (confident expectation). The writer of Hebrews presents God as “he who promised”. The emphasis at this point is not on the content of what God has promised, but it is on the God who makes promises to his people. Remember this idea: We must exalt the One who promises and not the promises in themselves. We do not worship the Bible, but the God who has spoken in the Bible. His faithfulness to his word is the crucial matter. Many people say wedding vows, but it is the character of those who repeat the vows that gives any substance to them.

Knowledge of the living God is more important than the promises, and it is the basis of our interaction with God’s promises. This is not to disparage the promises but to put them in their proper place. We will not evaluate his promises correctly unless we have a proper estimate of God and his character as God. John 3:16 is a beautiful verse, but it means nothing to the one who knows little or nothing about the God who loves the world. For this reason, seek to gain a greater knowledge of God. It is gained through daily communication with him. Therefore, to strengthen us, let us consider God as the promising God. You can review how God interacted with his people by giving promises:

Noah (Genesis 6:11-22)
Jacob (Genesis 28:11-15)
Elijah (1 Kings 17:2-6)
Abraham (Romans 4:16-25)

All this important to grasp, because hope “feeds” on the promises of God. As your body is nourished by physical food, so your hope is sustained and strengthened by God’s promises. The way to an unswerving profession of hope (confident expectation) is to lay hold of God’s promises and to “make them your own”; that is, put them into your world and life view and act accordingly. The inner person of the heart especially needs to be refreshed with God’s promises in the good news of Christ. Think of their incomparable greatness and glory. When we enjoy their fulfillment, then we will be eternally happy.

How are you feeding your hope? If you have a feeling of hopelessness, perhaps you can trace the problem back to an improper diet. Try a “hope builders” spiritual diet (a good diet helps you build strength) for a few weeks. (Yes, it might interrupt your current “Bible reading plan”. I know it’s shocking to suggest such an interruption. But isn’t hope of great value to the true Christian way of life?) Here is a sample that I suggest for people who desperately need to strengthen their confident anticipation in the Lord.

As you pray for God to strengthen your hope, read and think about and then pray based on the following passages:

Read one section from one of the following each day:

The Life of Abraham (Genesis 12-22)
The Life of Joseph (Genesis 37, 39-50)
The Life of David (1 Samuel 16-31; 2 Samuel 1-24)

Read one or two sections from one of the following each day:

The Gospel of Mark
Romans

Read one of the following each day: [Repeat as necessary]

Psalm 6; Psalm 13; Psalm 23; Psalm 27; Psalm 37; Psalms 42-43; Psalm 73; Psalm 107; 1 Corinthians 15; Hebrews 11; Revelation 1:12-18; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 19; Revelation 21:1-22:6

Conclude by thanking God for his word that builds your hope by the power of the Spirit.

We need to arrive at the full confidence that we can depend upon God, the faithful God. We can trust him with our lives now and forever. The Christian life is a walk of active faith. We dare to trust the invisible God in the all too visible challenges that we face. The life of a follower of Jesus is not intended to be a pleasant stroll in the park while you sip on free lemonade. For this reason, we must have confidence in the faithful, promise-making and promise-keeping God.

Grace and peace, David

Reading with Fresh Eyes

In our Sunday morning gathering, we aim to read through a passage of Scripture together each week. For example, we have read through Colossians five times in a week and the book of Hebrews once. Last week and this, our goal is to read through the Gospel of Matthew together. Although I don’t have a text of Scripture to back up this method, I think it is wise for groups of Christ learners (disciples) to be reading together. It draws our thinking to the same portions of the Scriptures and provides material for discussion or reference.

So then, as I was reading Matthew earlier this week, I came across a paragraph in my “Notemakers” Bible (it has wide margins that are perfect for making notes) that I had not made many notes on. It was in the middle of a well-marked chapter. The paragraph is Matthew 15:29-31. (By the way, do not feel inadequate or a failure, etc if you don’t make notes in your Bible. We are all different, and I find this a useful method for me. There is nothing spiritual about making notes in your Bible.)

Back to our topic. As I read, I began to think about how I had never meditated on this paragraph. I feel no need to analyze myself about the reasons. We all have heard someone say in a Bible study or small group, “Wow, I never read that before!” The more likely explanation is that we weren’t paying attention in our previous times of reading that passage. As I wrote at the end of last year, we might need to slow down as we read the Word, so that we can absorb what were reading. And we should not view some passages as extra material that happens to be in the way of our desire to read our favorite passages.

On a fresh reading, what do I see? First, this event follows his “secret mission” to Gentile territory, where he healed the daughter of a woman who begged Jesus to heal her. Back in Galilee, the large crowds of people bring many to him that had a variety of physical difficulties. This gathering with many in misery must have touched Jesus’ compassionate heart. He acted with the power of the Spirit and healed them. I thought about the need to show mercy to people with physical and mental difficulties. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7 NIV). Evaluate yourself about how often you show mercy.

Second, Jesus produced a at change in those who were healed. Can you imagine the change in their attitudes when Jesus had restored them to health. Recently, I was at a men’s retreat that my dad had attended almost every year for nearly forty plus years. The retreat center is built on very hilly landscape. You can see it on the above picture. I wondered how he could have walked from the bunkhouse to the dining area. But he did. While there, I saw other older men struggling with the terrain also. Yet they were there. It is easy to talk about one’s pain and weariness in such circumstances. For this reason, imagine the change in attitude after Jesus healed them: from despair to victory.

Third, the people praised the true and living God, the God of Israel. They had great reasons to praise. They could talk and walk and see! Those with arthritis and other crippling diseases were cured! Certainly, it was time to magnify the greatness of God. There are are couple of lessons here:

Contrast the concerns and reaction of the healed people and those who brought them with those of the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law (Matthew 15:1-14). One group was intent on religious traditions and looking good before people; the other worshiped God and cared about other people.
If we understand what Jesus did, we ought to be amazed, even two thousand years later. Something is wrong with us if we read these words carefully and fail to be amazed. This is true history about real people. To nod your head and move on points out a troubled area in your soul.
Who are we trying to bring to Jesus? How are we involved with other people? Our goal in living must be for far more than personal comfort.

Grace and peace, David