Meditation Metaphor: Walking through the Word

The other day I climbed into my car and headed out on an errand.  As I drove through the streets of our neighborhood I passed my wife.  She was taking a walk with the two-year-old son of our friends and neighbors.

I slowed down and said hello to Johnathan, who was amazed to see me driving past while he and Nana were on a walk.

I drove on out of the neighborhood, leaving them to enjoy their walk.  And they do enjoy their walks.

Karen, my wife, writes about her walks with Johnathan frequently on her blog, Titus2Tea. The two of them have great adventures.

"Wook!" Johnathan shouted in the middle of our walk around the block, "Oh, otay! Wain!"

"It's not raining. That's the flower petals blowing from the tree," I laughed.

His pudgy toddler hands raised toward the sky as he blinked in wonderment at the hundreds of tiny white petals raining down and the thousands more piled at his feet.

"There shall be showers of blessings," I sang to him. "Showers of blessings we need. Mercy drops 'round us are falling! But for the showers we plead."

Johnathan began to laugh at this event too marvelous for words as we twirled and danced in the shower of soft petals. He was delighted at the prospect of rain showers and mud puddles on our walk. He was prepared, dressed in rain boots and a jacket. But, this miracle of flowers in what looked like rain was too marvelous for words.

She writes about another day when Johnathan first discovered that the "sky music" he has enjoyed all his young life is actually coming from the birds. He reacts with pure joy at this miracle of God's creation.

I seldom experience such adventures on the streets of our neighborhood.  My knee doesn't take kindly to extended walking on uneven paths anymore. Usually when I travel down those same streets I'm behind the wheel of a car. I'm paying more attention to the road ahead than to flower petals and singing birds.

Direct me in the path of your commands,

    for there I find delight.

        (Psalm 119:35)

For many people, their only experience of God's Word is when they take time to read a brief snippet in a book of meditations, or when the preacher reads a few verses before going on to preach about topics that may or may not be all that relative to those scriptures.

That is not meditation, and it gains them about as much insight into the heart of God as my quick trip down the street teaches me about what God is doing in the neighborhood.

True meditation requires taking a long and leisurely walk through the pathways of God's Word.

Sometimes you find yourself taking a side road you hadn't anticipated. When you encounter an unexpected glimpse of God at work, you can take time to stop and marvel.

Heave you ever been so taken with something you've learned about God's heart while reading the Bible that you begin to laugh and dance? I once gave Him a standing ovation after reading what His psalms.

That sort of experience only comes when you slow down and spend time wandering through lines and columns of His words.

May my lips overflow with praise,

    for you teach me your decrees.

May my tongue sing of your word,

    for all your commands are righteous.

        (Psalm 119:171-172)