Continuing their conversation asking the questions “Is Meditation Biblical?”, Gina, Norm & Justin discuss the importance of stillness in a world full of distraction and chaos. How do we make space to be still? Listen along beginning at 12:10.
Inundated
Gina:
We’re in an interesting time in the world right now. And we’re inundated, there’s no room or space at all. We have phones we’re on constantly. I find myself even, as I sit down I instinctually grab my phone to look at something, to scroll, or I instinctively look to see if I got something.
It’s like, we’ve almost moved as a culture to a place where it’s almost impossible to be still. And by being still, I don’t just mean physically stopping, but mentally stopping.
I’ve sat at church on Sundays, occasionally, as I sit there with my Bible open, staring at Derek or Justin and have to stop myself and go “Focus. Let go of what you’re thinking. Let go of what you’re praying for. Let go of all these things and actually receive right now. Listen.”
I read this great little book, and I’m hoping to interview her, and I’m not going to remember the name of it all, I’ll remember and I’ll put it in the outro. (Inner Technology: How to be Human in a Digital World by Jenny Black) But it’s this tiny book about the digital effect that we’ve had. And she really goes through basic needs that we have as humans for shelter, sunlight, rest, and play.
She brought up something that was really fascinating, she said, “We don’t know how to be bored, and boredom is necessary for our minds to process the things that we’ve experienced.”
So when we were kids, you would go to the DMV and stand in line and you wouldn’t have anything to look at. It’s in those places of boredom, of going out, none of your friends could play. It’s not time for that one show you like to watch. There’s no DVR, VCR, you go outside and you sit on the grass and you’re just bored.
It’s time for your mind to rest your heart, to rest for you to process what you’ve experienced, and know who you are and where you are and what God’s (doing). And we don’t have that space.
One of the things that I was recognizing, even in some of the definitions of meditation, as it’s about contemplation or reflection, and we’re in a constant state of contemplation and reflection and rumination, because our minds don’t stop.
So my question is, what are you meditating on? Because all of us are meditating on something right now. That’s the state of the union right now. We’re all meditating. We’re all ruminating constantly on something. So what is it?
And I would go so far as to say, what we’re meditating on is what’s forming us.
What does it look like to stop and recognize that, and shift what our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and our souls are meditating on and ruminating on, and start to bring it back to that place, so that the Lord can have His way, so that we can encounter Him and be restored to the original intent.
Justin:
You just explained the ongoing outpouring that happens from a human soul, that we could refer to as worship. We’re a people of constant outpouring, It doesn’t ever turn off. The question is, what are you outpouring toward?
Back to thinking about reaching for my phone every five seconds. If I tune my constant outpouring to doing something that’s actually taking my focus and attention away from what matters, then I’m avoiding all of my purpose and intent, in many, many ways.
I do think it’s an important part of the conversation to just say that we are that people, because God is a God who is creative. God is a God of constant sustaining, constant outpouring, constant holding of all things, constant knowledge, constant presence, constant otherness and holiness and righteousness.
We are made in His image, and we reflect that in some, not so beautiful ways now because of sin, but the outpouring is still there. Nothing doesn’t worship, nothing that’s a human doesn’t outpour, we’re always outpouring, so the question is to what?
One of the things that I feel behind the Dwell project, is that you provided a healthy space to tune the outpouring of the human soul towards something that would actually lead towards reforming us back into our original intent and purpose with God. It’s a place that God could speak, a place that The Holy Spirit could be welcomed into, not just clean house or convict, but to comfort and love, to pour out the heart of the Father into you.
Those are spaces that you redeem: people’s imagination. The imagination isn’t scratched by a meme, or by a Google search about wondering some dark secret about your life that you’ve never shared with anybody.
Your imagination goes back to what could The Father do in me? And I think you’re helping tune the outpouring of heart back to the song that God put in us in the beginning, and letting The Holy Spirit minister that into us. I think that’s a powerful, powerful thing.
Meditating on God’s Word
Gina:
You know if you’ve been a believer for any length of time, obviously God’s Word is important. Obviously, we want to read our Bible. I go through that in the prayer class that I teach, and we talk about how we cultivate that intimate relationship with the Lord, and worship is part of it, prayer is part of it, and The Word.
There’s different ways to assimilate God’s word. We can read it, which is powerful, because you get the context and the story, and it can come alive.
There is studying it, like going deeper and kind of dissecting it and intellectually looking at the culture and all of that stuff.
Sometimes we can go to memorize it, and that’s part of having it in there.
Then there’s something about marinating in it, and that’s what this is. It’s like, how do we receive God’s word differently? So it’s not just knowledge, but it becomes a part of our DNA. It becomes a part of who we are.
The other thing that I think is really powerful and I wanted to be very intentional with in the journal part of Dwell, is that God’s word is living and breathing and it’s dividing. It does all of these things. You can read the same passage several times over the course of your life, and God will bring fresh revelation, something new or convict you differently every time.
I included what I called an “Altar of remembrance”, a whole section for each meditation, because I want to help people start to see and receive.
I’m going to sit here today and go through the first Dwell meditation, which is based in Psalm 139. I’m going to sit there and I’m going to listen and I’m going to receive it. I’m going to soak in God’s word. And then I want to write down the things that He said. What am I feeling? What am I sensing? What’s triggering me? What’s maybe uncomfortable? What’s frustrating?
Also, I want us to learn that it’s okay. It’s okay to be triggered by God’s Word. It’s okay to be uncomfortable with God’s Word. This is part of what healthy intimacy looks like. What does it look like not to just hear it and let it go by, but actually wrestle with it.
So that Altar of Remembrance, is a place to write down the things that I received today on this date. Then, if you go back to that meditation three weeks from now, a month from now, a year from now, God’s going to move differently.
He’s going to speak differently. Why? Because you’re different. You’re in a different place. You’re in a stronger place, in a harder place. You’re weary, you’re joyful, He is convicting or He’s leading, or He’s affirming. All those things are different, and what that does, is it creates those altars of remembrance.
It is like in the old Testament where God would tell Israel that He would do something miraculous on their behalf. He would speak profoundly and then He’d say, “Build an altar.” Why? Because we’re forgetful people, when we forget, or when our kids are going, “what are those stones about”? Or we start complaining, we can go back and go, “oh, wait, that’s when God spoke.”
That’s what He said. He said that I am not going to be here forever. He said that healing is coming. He said that this situation will be resolved. He’s spoken that I’m healed. He’s spoken that my kids are going to be okay, or whatever those things are that He spoke. An altar is a reminder of His faithfulness.
Psalm 37 talks about feeding on His faithfulness. That’s what those altars of remembrance are. So that when I’m in a place that’s hard and dark, I can go back and I can be reminded of the things that He said to me, uniquely, intimately, and intentionally.
Justin is the worship pastor of New Community Church in Vista, CA
Check the rest of this conversation Stillness, Delight & Endurance, Is Meditation Biblical?
Check out the Dwell Meditations
