Some days my heart doesn’t want to cooperate with what my spirit knows to be true. My head believes but my feelings flutter around like an aimless moth. So what’s a girl to do?
God has been patiently, graciously teaching me something. And I’m telling you, friend, it has proven powerful in my own walk. When my heart doesn’t agree with my spirit…
I speak it.
It sounds so simple, but something happens when I open my mouth and my ears hear His truth.
flickr photo credit: meredith farmer
I have Psalm 1 stuck in my head these days due to the Seeds Family Worship CD’s my kids listen to in the car. (Which by the way are awesome! And no I don’t get paid to say that.) So the other morning I decided to really sit down with this text and talk to Him about it.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2
The word “meditate” blew me away. All this time I assumed the word meant “to think about something.” I even picture a monk sitting on the ground with his eyes closed and his mind in deep surrender to…thinking. Meditating.
But being the nerdy Hebrew-Greek lover that I am, I discovered that in this particular text the word actually means, “to utter, to speak.” Whoa. According to this passage I will live the blessed life as I delight in God’s law, meditating on it day and night — speaking it day and night.
Then I looked a little deeper and found that He uses the same word throughout the Old Testament in relation to the mouth.
This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night… Joshua 1:8
And my tongue shall speak (meditate) of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long. Psalm 35:28
For my mouth will speak truth. Proverbs 8:7
Meditating is more than just thinking on truth. Freedom and blessing include speaking it continually.
When my feelings don’t line up with truth, I open my mouth and speak His truth out-loud. And something happens in my spirit. When my voice declares true things, my soul eventually bows.
Fill me, Lord…
How have you seen “speaking it” prove powerful in your own walk with Him?
What passage can you choose to “speak” the next time your feelings don’t line up?
Wow, Lara, this really SPOKE right to me. As a person who is talking or singing all day long, I realize it is easier for me to be reciting truth to myself and my kids through Scripture songs or His Word than it is to carve out an hour for silent “meditation” of the cloistered kind. I’m so encouraged. What a blessing that His Word can speak to our unique situations, enabling us to draw close to Him through our speech instead of through silence, which doesn’t exist in my world! 🙂
Katrina, you make me smile — especially the description of yourself which, by the way, I’m certain the word “failed” does not accurately describe you. AND I don’t have silence in my world either. I totally get that.
the seeds family worship CDs really help me because a song so easily gets stuck in my head much easier than memorizing words. when i wrestle to take my own thoughts captive, i sing/meditate Phil 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything…” thank you for the encouragement to SEEK TRUTH!
Don’t you love the Seeds Family Worship?! I even wake up singing them sometimes. And I love Phil 4:6. It’s such a great truth to combat those anxious “feelings.”
This is AWESOME!
I have been in that same “head knows the truth but my heart still feels aimless, drifty and sad” place.
I also had the same mental definition of “meditate” — this is so cool.
Speak the truth to myself.
All. day. long.
Amen.
I was encouraged too! Speaking it with you. 🙂
So thankful for this post this morning!! This was a brief yet powerful post as it really resounded with me…I know I feel much better when I speak truth out loud to myself, I just never realized it! Thank you so much for the reminder!
Thanks Amalia. I don’t know exactly what happens when we speak it but something definitely happens in our spirits. Blessings to you!
Wow, I had no idea that to meditate meant to speak! Maybe I need to become a ‘nerdy Hebrew-Greek lover’ too?! {Which, BTW, you are so NOT nerdy!}
Thank you for sharing this. Your words spoke directly to my heart. You are a treasure!
And Jesus did it! Matthew 4:1-11
Well, doesn’t that just blow sitting-cross-legged-and-ohmmmming to smithereens! Thanks for educating our minds so that our hearts can be changed, Lara.