Meditation
can be a taboo thing in Christianity for the fact that when we think of
"meditation" we automatically think of nature soundtracks, positive
affirmations, hypnosis, and other worldly things. Nevertheless, meditation is
actually a concept the world has taken from the bible and made their own! Now
we find that Christians rarely ever meditate because they don't want to be like
the "world". However, it was a practice that started in the bible!
Sometimes
in the Old Testament, when the word "meditate" appears, it was literally meant to
mean, "tune out" or be unaware of your surroundings. In Isaiah 33:18,
the scripture reads “Your heart will meditate on terror”. In the literal
translation of this scripture the term “soliloquize” is used in place of the
word “meditate”. Soliloquize means to utter in a soliloquy. By definition, a
soliloquy is an utterance by a person who is talking to himself or herself and
is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present.
We get
the idea that to be disregardful of one's surroundings means a person is in an
intense state of meditation or concentration. The way the word meditate (or
soliloquize) was meant to be used here shows a deep level of being consumed by
one's thoughts: to "meditate on terror".
In
comparison to the way the term meditate was used in some other parts of the
bible, to soliloquize means to be in a deeper state of concentration. For
example, David says in Psalms 145:5, “I will meditate on the glorious splendor
of Your majesty”. Here David is implying he will think about or reflect on
something. This use of the word shows less intensity than being consumed by
thoughts of terror as seen in the above scripture, Isaiah 33:18.
Interestingly
enough, the intense version of the word “meditate” is also seen in one of the
most popular Old Testament scriptures where the word is used. Joshua 1:8 reads:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous”
In this
scripture the word “meditate” was, once again, literally translated from Hebrew
to the word “soliloquize”. Unlike common belief, this scripture does not simply
mean to read the word or reflect on the word every day and night. It literally
means to utter repetitively to oneself, with such a level of concentration that
the person becomes disregardful or oblivious to his or her surroundings. This
scripture was actually a suggestion for Joshua to engage in
actual meditation in order for the book of the law to be a subconscious
lifestyle for him. Doing this is what was suggested to Joshua as the way for him to make himself successful and prosperous.
Meditation
has become a practice that is almost barely used in Christianity. In fact the
world has taken meditation and trivialized it to become a worldly concept with
an almost evil connotation. However, just because the world has trivialized
meditation this does not mean it is something that should be removed from
Christianity. (The world has also trivialized music, but as we know, music is
something that was created in heaven!)
Nevertheless, believe it or not, meditation is actually used in
Christian churches more than we realize. Every time a congregation is directed
by a leader to repeat a certain phrase, especially when the people are asked to
repeat the phrase over and over again, this is a form of meditation. When a
preacher says the same phrase or idea to a congregation in more than one
different ways, this is a form of getting the people to meditate on what they
are being told. Meditation literally is the act of concentrating on and
rehashing a concept or thought in order to reach a heightened level of
awareness (almost at a subconscious level) so that the concept can
automatically come back to your remembrance whenever necessary (in times when
you're not "meditating").
Click Here to Read on to Part 2 of Christian Meditation
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