Finding stillness in God’s presence, learning to delight in him, gives us strength to endure the season of life. To listen along, pick up the conversation at 21:22 in the player below.
The Profound Impact of Art in Receiving Truth
Norm:
I think there is a unique thing about this marination that you’re describing when there’s a music bed that supports it. That sounds kind of analytical, but speaking as a musician and a worship musician for many decades, I think God created music with a profound impact on a human’s ability to receive.
It evokes something, and worship of God is not just an analytical thing or an intellectual thing, right? The Psalms are replete with all sorts of examples of God moving the heart.
And I think that the Dwell kind of idea, this meditation on the Lord’s truths, accompanied by music of the type that we’ve done; I think God can use it in a profound way.
Gina:
We were at a retreat for worship leaders years ago, and Ian Cron was the guest speaker. He had a quote, and it was something along the lines of, “Art, (so whether that’s music or visual art or whatever it is), allows truth to come in sideways.”
So I can sit and listen to someone’s lecture, or I can speak or read something that’s profound and truthful, but art brings it in, in a way that I’m captivated by, or that I can receive differently.
Worship isn’t just music, but musical worship is a significant expression and part of worship. I think because of that it evokes something, it releases something, it gives permission for something that maybe can’t happen in the context of a conversation. So there’s something really cool about that.
Norm:
A much more articular way of saying what I was trying to say. Yes!
Justin:
I’ve heard the same quote. One of the other ways I’ve heard that is, “Art, it evades the watchful dragons of the mind”, I’ll always love that.
Gina:
I also think that it gives permission and space for emotions. I think that there’s been a lot of places in the church world where you have to separate your faith from your emotions.
I don’t think emotions should rule us, but I think there’s purpose in emotions. Jesus expressed emotions in various significant ways, everything from anger to anguish.
I think whether it’s from just our life, our childhood, our upbringing, or our faith, or just trying to survive life; we can repress and deny those emotions. Or we don’t believe that there’s even space or permission for those things.
One of the things that is flabbergasting to me about that, is I think the Bible is replete with demonstrations of people in their emotions, and the safest place for those to be is in God’s presence. He doesn’t scorn them, He doesn’t judge them, He doesn’t chastise them; He meets you there.
It’s the people that can recognize that, and be the most honest with where they’re at in God’s presence, that have the deepest relationship and connection with Him.
Part of what I love, and really was something I didn’t recognize or expect necessarily, was that allowing that space, somehow actually gives permission for people to finally allow themselves to feel. To feel the weight of, “Oh, Lord, you’ve searched me, and you know me, you know when I lay down, you know when I get up.”
Maybe they’ve never allowed themselves to stop and receive that, or be overwhelmed by it. I’ve had a couple of examples or testimonies from people who came into experiencing a Dwell meditation with really no expectations. I had one woman who hadn’t cried since she was a child, and she’s in her forties, and in the meditation she experienced and encountered God’s love and cried for the first time.
The healing that was brought to her through that process of receiving, or awareness, or recognizing something she needed, that she didn’t realize she needed. So I think that’s an important thing as well.
Emotions can be a powerful indicator of where we are, how far we are, how close we are, how full of shame we might be. Being able to allow ourselves to give space, and also allow The Holy Spirit into those places, then healing can come. That’s where conviction can happen.
That’s where recognition of forgiveness needs to take place. Recognition that there might be offense that we’ve been burying and not willing to address. Recognition that there’s bitterness that needs to be processed. Recognition that, maybe there’s joy that we have not let ourselves experience.
Norm:
We’re receiving God’s comfort.
Delight that Leads to Endurance
Justin:
Oh, that’s maybe one of the hardest things. One of the things I love about the Dwell project is that it really walks alongside me in my life.
One of the great purposes of the book that we call the Psalms, it’s a place of the meeting ground of all the pieces of humanity before the presence of God. I think it’s incredible that the first Psalm, in the first book of the Psalms, and how it’s broken up and talks about meditation.
It starts with some negative expressions, and it says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law, he meditates day and night.”
It goes on and says, “He’s like a tree planted near streams of water, yields fruit in season, it’s leaf doesn’t wither, and he prospers in all that he does.”
The beginning is fascinating to me because it talks about what it means to be blessed. We all have many definitions of what it means to be blessed. What we find out in the Psalm is the one that’s blessed is one that doesn’t do a few things, but who does do something that is not just important, it’s essential. It talks about delight.
And it says, blessed is the one who does not, who does not, who does not… but his delight, which is a spiritual joy that’s given by God, through relationship with God. It’s the satisfaction that comes from knowing you’re truly anchored in the Father.
It says, “His delight is in the law of the Lord”; the words given to man from God. Then it says this, “Not just delight, but it says on his law, he meditates.”
So the one that’s blessed, walks in his great joy given to God, through intimacy with God through his word, but then he also meditates on it.
And if you look at the Hebrew language, the word meditates is an onomatopoeia. If you read old comic books, it’s like “pow” or “wap” , you know, and they spell out what it sounds like. And the word meditates is three letters, It’s “H-G-H”. And if you say that to yourself, it’s like “Huhhh”.
You may clear your throat a little bit. You know, you might need to hold a Kleenex in front of your face when you’re saying that with an English accent. Well, yeah, because all good biblical reference has to be done in an English accent. Let’s just be real people!
But, the word “Meditates”, is a reference to reading in a low voice to one’s self, and it was a common practice when reading the Torah. So you would murmur in a low voice and you would read the word to yourself.
So it’s not just reading it out loud, you’re reading it to yourself. It’s speaking God’s voice into the environment that you’re in, but you’re just saying it to you. You’re speaking the law, the word of Yahweh, The self existing one, to yourself in that space.
It was a discipline. It was being diligent and purposeful, and it was how they sought and were seeking after God. If you think about what we do with Scripture, this is a much greater expression than posting a verse on Instagram, or on Facebook.
That word may have been meant for you to go in your prayer closet and just do business with you and Jesus together. Just repeated over the space you are in. Come to know God through that. It’s not just black and white on a page. Say it to the point where it is really recognized and known, breathe in and breathe it out.
It is different than Eastern chant, which was meant to maybe speak the idol of what you believed into existence. This is repeating the words of God, that were as Scriptures say, given to us for the healing of our bones.
It’s not just, “his delight is in the law”, It’s not just that the blessed one meditates this H-G-H, but it’s that it takes place day and night.
That you’re blessed when you do that with an ongoing culture of associating yourself with the life giving words of God. The person who does that, is like a tree planted near streams of water. They’re spiritually nourished through meditating on God’s word.
Second, they yield fruit in season. So spiritually nourished and spiritually fruitful. That’s a big deal. I think we all want that. The leaf does not wither. It almost sounds like it’s saying, and I may be going close to the edge of where I can take this by saying, spiritual durability.
Gina:
I’m going to go so far as to say that, it’s not even just spiritual durability because God made us; He made us in His image. We are His kids. We are living this life in a broken world, and in that broken world, there are things that are going to come against us.
So one of the Dwell meditations is actually on Psalm 1. Another verse that goes into this is Jeremiah 17:7-8. It’s the same thing, that the tree that’s planted, whose roots go deep, that when the drought comes, and it will, because it does, when the hot winds blow, and they will, he won’t wither.
That leaf is still going to be green. They’re not going to crumble or fall over. The other thing that’s interesting too, it’s like a tree can only grow as tall, as deep as its roots go. When that wind comes, it’ll just get completely uprooted.
So there’s something very significant about being able to plant ourselves to absorb the depth of who God is, the depth of the truth of who we are in him, the depth of His presence, so that we can withstand all of the things that we’re going to face.
Justin:
And without that, it’s really hard to stand and withstand the testing of our faith, which does come from God. The testing of our faith. He doesn’t tempt us, nor is He tempted, but the testing of our faith is allowed to come to us.
I’ll tell you what, when the testing of my faith comes, I would hope to be someone that meditated on the same words of that God, who allows the testing for my strengthening to come.
And guess how I received the testing? I receive it as part of the blessing of God that he would allow me to grow through even a difficult season. Even though I hate the difficult season, my anchor holds through every piece of that.
When Paul talks about those who don’t know God and they’re tossed about by every wind of doctrine. The winds that come when I’m meditating on the law of the Lord, and it’s my delight, and I’m bearing fruit and I’m nourished, then I’m not tossed by the doctrine that comes at me.
Actually what could have been used for my harm, if the enemy had a hold of my roots, actually makes me stronger. I make it sound easy, but It’s infinitely difficult.
By God’s grace and deep dependence on The Holy Spirit in those seasons, and I’ve got more coming, as you do as well. Sorry. But yes, my hope is that I would be anchored in knowing that; that’s what the real testimony is.
Gina:
It gives us recognition and capacity to receive the provision that is even in those dark places.
Justin:
I mean, it’s not referred to as “light” for no reason, it usually exists in contrast to something else.
Justin is the worship pastor of New Community Church in Vista, CA
Check the rest of this conversation The Necessity for Stillness in a Chaotic World, Is Meditation Biblical?
Check out the Dwell Meditations
