Renewing the Spirit’s Focus
Psalms 1:1-6
Jim Davis
Where do we turn in a world where we are overworked, stressed out and bombarded with more information in a single day than one can assimilate? How do we keep from becoming unhappy, impatient and frustrated in such a world? In such a world we often feel we must do something, even if it is wrong. We all know the feeling. We are so busy we feel that we don’t have the time to stop and sort it all out. Yet, that is exactly what we need to do.
Think of what change would be wrought in our lives if we would sort it all out and find a sense of balance. Stress is the result of not stopping to sort it out. Stress is the cause of many of our health problems today. Most of our overeating is from stress rather than gluttony. Overeating is the cause of the majority of our health problems today. Many become stressed out and go to the mall and shop to they drop. It is counter-productive It piles up credit card debt and our need to work harder to pay the balances. This increases our stress and tiredness making us unhappy, impatient and frustrated.
The ancient heroes of the Bible often stopped to sort things out. The Bible word “meditate” describes what they were doing.
Genesis 24:62-63
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate . . .” (NIV).
We find Isaac going out to a field for the specific purpose of meditating. Meditation in the ancient world was an exercise to sort things out. However, the biblical heroes were not looking inward to sort things out. They were looking upward. The psalmist writes, “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways” (Psalms 119:15 NIV). Moses instructed the Hebrews, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” (Joshua 1:8).
The Bible came into being by those who sat down and meditated on God’s ways. This empowered the Holy Spirit to lead them to understand God’s ways. The Bible was not the product of dictation, but of inspiration. Inspiration from God found in excruciating circumstances. Inspiration from God empowers us as we walk in his ways.
Meditation Focused on God’s Ways
Many doctors are promoting meditation as a way to balance a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states. They believe meditation is a simple way to lower blood pressure, to improve exercise performance in people with angina, to help people with asthma breather easier, to help to relieve insomnia and to generally relax the everyday stresses of life.
Much of the meditation that is being promoted today is mostly about clearing the clutter out of our minds so that we can understand ourselves. In the Bible we find great men focusing their meditations on God’s ways to come to a better understanding of self. There is a big difference.
Today many are prescribing medi---CATION rather than medi--TATION. The use of meditation for healing is not new. The value of meditation to alleviate suffering and promote healing has been known and practiced for thousands of years. Meditative techniques are the product of diverse cultures and peoples around the world. It has been scientifically shown that meditation works. It has been rooted in the traditions of the world's religions. Christians who meditate upon God’s ways to walk in his paths are generally happier and healthier.
We are often so busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused. Setting aside a simple ten or fifteen minute period for meditation can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance. Meditation is a means of overcoming a negative mindset and of cultivating constructive thoughts.
The only way for God to change the dynamics of your life in your circumstances is for you to come to God and meditate on his ways to sort things out.
Psalms 1:1-6
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish. NIV
The purpose of meditating upon God’s ways is for the purpose of walking in his paths. Meditation challenges our natural mindset, which has been developed from worldly values. If we don’t make a concerted effort to meditate upon God’s ways, we will surely be held prisoners to the world’s way of thinking.
Sinners scorn God’s ways. Sometimes it may seem much easier to walk in the ways of the scornful than to meditate upon God’s ways. It may momentarily seem easier, but it won’t be prosperous, and it is certainly more stressful and self-destructive.
Spiritual Growth Is Counter-cultural
Christianity is being attacked from every direction by those scorning God’s ways. There was a time in this country when Christ’s followers did not have to live in a way that cut across the very grain of society. We may not want to legislate moral laws in Washington, but neither do we want Washington legislating immorality for us.
Christianity has been forced to become a counter-cultural movement that challenges societal norms. It really has always has been, but it doesn’t have the respect it once did. Moses led God’s people through a counter-cultural revolution when he led them out of Egypt. He led them saying, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” (Joshua 1:8 NIV). Moses’ sought to persuade Israel to prepare themselves for the battles in the promised land of Canaan. There is no better way to conquer the world order than meditating upon God’s word and following its instruction.
Psalms 119:23-24
3 Though rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.
24 Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors. NIV
Meditating upon God’s ways to discern his counsel will prepare us to meet the challenges of those who scorn God’s ways. Jesus teaches his disciples what to do when being scorned.
Luke 21:14-19
14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life. NIV
The natural tendency is to be anxious about how to solve the problem before it arises. Jesus says, “don’t worry about your defense, God will defend you.” Peter tells us we must prepare our minds for action or battle; it is the only means to setting your hope fully on the grace of God and standing firm (Peter 1:13). It is not a matter of anticipating all the questions that one may be asked and coming up with the answers beforehand. It is not a matter of defending yourself when you are wronged. It is a matter of meditating upon God’s ways to gain a good general knowledge of the Bible. When trouble comes God will reveal the relevance of what you already know. He will defend you.
Psalms 143:5-6
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. NIV
Spiritual Growth is Counter-intuitive
The Spirit’s passion for our personal spiritual growth is counter-intuitive. When we initially come to Christ we think intuitively in the ways we have been programmed to think by the world order of things. The world’s values are engrained at an early age.
My grand daughter Skylar is 4 years old. She has a necklace with a golden heart encrusted with small diamonds that my wife gave her. Her dad wanted to give her a golden cross to wear. She asks her dad, “Why would I want to wear a cross, when I already have a heart with diamonds.” We learn our values early on. They shape the way we think intuitively.
Intuitively we believe life itself is of utmost important. Personal survival is utmost in our minds. How life is lived becomes secondary. You can begin to see how feeling that we need to survive can become the focus. However, Jesus speaks of losing our lives, of being betrayed, and put to death. He gave us a purpose that goes beyond our need to survive. Jesus says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Luke 9:23-27
23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." NIV
What did Jesus mean by that? Instead of control and power and strength, and holding tightly onto everything you have, kingdom living is more characterized by trust and obedience and acceptance and submission and letting go and, yes, weakness and the cross and suffering.
God’s people never place personal survival ahead of walking in God’s ways. Esther entered the kings chambers uninvited knowing it could cost her life. She went in telling herself “if I die, I die.” Saving God’s people meant more than life to her. Saving souls should always mean more than our survival. The early disciples of Jesus fasted and prayed to take their minds off the need to survive. Fasting was a means used to focus life on God’s way. It took their minds off the needs of the body to focus on the will of God. Prayer was their means of seeking God’s way or direction.
The greatest gift you can offer your loved ones is showing them how to live lives guided, controlled, and directed by God. Nothing in life matters more than knowing and doing God’s will. Nothing can compensate for not knowing his will—not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure. The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without knowing God’s ways.
Intuitively we think we need to gain the respect of those mocking us by embracing their ways. Isn’t it strange that the world wants us to respect their alternate lifestyles, but they don’t respect our alternate life style? Their counter-cultural lifestyles have put words into our everyday vocabulary that were unheard a decade, or two decades ago. Their counter-cultural practices are becoming more and more accepted because it has changed the way we think intuitively. Yet, the world rejects the idea of us living counter-cultural lives as we walk in God’s ways.
Intuitively our sexual nature is crying out, whatever feels good, do it. The world tells us pleasure is happiness. Yet, the Bible tells us that living for pleasure is a living death.
1 Timothy 5:4-7
5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. NIV
Jesus told the man who wanted to return home to bury his father, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:22). The world is dead. Walking in the ways of the world is a living death. When the prodigal son returned home after spending his fortune on wine, women and song, his father said, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:24 NIV).
True celebration begins when we focus our lives on God’s way. Ask the person who contracted aides through illicit sexual actions the price of living a life pleasure. It is a living death. A young girl called me a few years ago indicating she had contacted Aids. She was fraught with desperation. It was a living death for her. She asked me to pray for her healing, as I was talking with her. I prayed, as she sobbed her heart out. She was a Christian who was seeking to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a moment. Intuitively we believe, if it feels good do it, but ask her which death would be better.
Matthew 5:27-30
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. NIV
Paul says this about all who walk in the ways of the world.
Ephesians 2:1-2
2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. NIV
Intuitively the world persuades us that the ungodly have a place among the righteous without the need to repent of their alternative lifestyles. Many seek to give them a standing among God’s people. The congregation of God’s people in Sardis, in Asia Minor, had a reputation among worldly people as being alive. She had gained this reputation by seeking to allow the world to gain an audience with her as she stood before God. This made the church look alive as sinners stood in their midst, but God said she was dead (Revelation 3:1).
She had no standing in the assembly of the righteous, for God says sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous.
Intuitively our greed is crying out “if you desire it charge it—don’t deny self of it.” We shutter when we are ask to give all our livelihood to God, but think nothing of spending beyond our means to gratify our greed to meet our need to have the world’s approval. I had a credit card company to call the church office this week. They wanted to know if we would like to set up the church to take contributions by credit card. Of course, I told them we weren’t interested.
Lives are built around material things to gain the approval of our world. “Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her
poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:1-4 NIV).
Intuitively we rely on riches for security, but God says this world’s riches are like the chaff the wind drives away. Riches are fleeting. Stocks plunge, hurricanes blow what we have worked for all our lives away, a tsunami crashes it, a mud slide buries it or death leaves it all behind.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. NIV
Intuitively we may think worldly prosperity is the means to a quality life. The psalmist says we become as fruitful as a tree planted by rivers of water when we seek God’s ways. This kind of tree bears fruit in its season. The word planted in Psalms 1:3 comes from a Hebrew word, which means, “transplanted.” It is God who has transplanted it. That means that the prosperity is due to God’s action. Prosperity is not a reward for doing good things or bearing good fruit. It is the natural function of a tree when it is unimpeded with other factors. The prosperity here speaks not of worldly wealth but of a continuing quality of life unimpeded by the wicked. This kind of prosperity is God’s intentional will for each life. A quality life is brought to pass by devotion to his will. (Anthony L. Ash, and Clyde M. Miller, Psalms, The Living Word Commentary, Sweet Publishing Company, Austin, Texas, 1980. Pg35.)
Intuitively we believe that we should trust in the works of our own hands. We may worship our hard work and ingenuity as a means to gain God’s approval. Israel was forever seeking to empower herself through carving idols with her own hands to worship and praise. The psalmist chose to meditate upon God’s work and his might deeds.
Psalms 77:12
12 I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds. NIV
Psalms 143:5-6
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. NIV
Conclusion:
I was talking to my sister a couple of months ago. We were talking about cleaning our offices and houses. She had discovered a way to take the stress out of it all. She indicated taking fifteen minutes each day to focus on these tasks, and work at doing the task at hand would accomplish most of those tasks by the end of the week. Fifteen minutes a day to clean house sounds pretty good.
Likewise, fifteen minutes a day would begin to refocus our lives on God’s ways. It would begin to direct our steps in God’s ways.
Initially you have to begin to walk in God’s ways to see the need to meditate upon his ways. You are probably not going to meditate on God’s ways until you begin to walk in his ways. You won’t walk in his ways long before you understand that you need to take a stand. When you decide to take a stand, you will have to know his ways in order to stand. Walking in God’s ways will force you to focus your mind on the tasks while your are accomplishing the tasks.
Luke 9:23-27
23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." NIV
If you are not a Christian, it begins with your death with Christ in baptism. If you are a Christian walking in the ways of the world, it begins with refocusing your ways on God’s ways.
Bible Study Questions
1. What do you depend upon to relieve the stress in your life? What did God’s people turn to?
2. What is the purpose of the Bible? How did it come into being?
3. How might meditation relieve some of our health problems?
4. What sort of meditation is being promoted today?
5. How is the meditation of God’s people different?
6. How would the time spent meditating actually save time?
7. What kind of prosperity does the psalmist speak of in Psalms 1:1-6?
8. Why should we not worry about how to face our adversaries? (Luke 21:14-19)
9. In what ways will meditating upon God’s ways challenge our natural intuition?
10. What is the greatest gift you can offer to you loved ones?
11. What value is it to gain the respect of those mocking us?