Spiritual Drought (3)
A lack of hydration and increased exposure to the elements can leave a person in a dangerous physical condition. As we noted in previous articles, heat exhaustion carries many parallels to spiritual exhaustion. A lack of spiritual hydration (the Word) and increased exposure to the elements (our worldly culture) can leave a person in a dangerous spiritual condition. We have also noted that there is a connection between our external circumstances and the internal condition of our souls. With that connection in mind, I warned us of preoccupying ourselves with trying to remove adverse circumstances from our lives, at the expense of nourishing our soul with the Word.
As a final thought to this topic, let’s look again at Psalm 143 for a quick thought. Note verses 5-6: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.”
Do you see one of the Psalmist’s antidotes to his thirsty soul? It is found in the words remember and meditate. Parched souls must redirect their thoughts from their present circumstances to the past works of God. Our ability to meditate is key to watering the parched soul. Let me give you two principles and four tools for meditation.
Principle 1: Meditation is not the emptying of the mind; it is the focusing of the mind.
New age thought teaches that meditation is the fine art of emptying your mind of all thoughts and sitting in a state of mindless bliss. True biblical meditation consists of focusing our thoughts on the right thing! Let the thoughts of the previous works of God consume your mind and water your soul.
Principle 2: Meditation is not the result of thinking; it is the result of the will.
We must make the willful choice to think correctly about things that are biblical and essential. For instance, biblical thinking is choosing to dwell on who God is rather than on why He does things. We may not know all the answers to the why question, but we can dwell on the things we do know for sure about His character. An example of essential thinking is to dwell on things God would have me do in response to these circumstances, rather than on the things that I can’t change or affect.
After you’ve made the choice to think biblically, use the tools of concentration, memorization, isolation, and repetition to help you meditate on the right things for the sake of your parched soul.
Concentrate on scripture by eliminating all other distractions when you sit down to pray and read God’s Word. Memorize key passages of scripture that deal with the promises or character of God. Hide in a closet, take a walk, or get up early in attempts to find an isolated place to meditate on God’s Word. Do these things once, and then do them again. Meditation needs to be done in repetition. Our parched souls came as a result of repeated exposure to the elements with the absence of the Word. Repetitious exposure to the Word of God is a necessary ingredient to restoring your soul.
My prayer is that God will guard our souls against exhaustion and keep us well-nourished!
Earlier posts in this series:
Ron Perry is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church of Folsom, California. This post first appeared on the Faith Baptist Church blog page, and we republish with his permission.
Photo by YODA Adaman on Unsplash and Photo by Jong Marshes on Unsplash