Get More From One Bible Verse

It’s not odd to hear the advice “meditate on Scripture” in Christian communities. But what do people mean by it?

To tell people to meditate at all sounds mystical and paints a picture in my mind of a Gandalf-looking guru alone in a cave. Or I imagine a room of thirty people in a yoga pose, eyes closed, and emptying their minds as they hum together.

Is Christian meditation on Scripture supposed to be like that, only with a Bible open in front of you? 
The short answer is no. So what is it? Meditating on Scripture is taking God’s word and running it through your mind in God’s presence.

Imagine being lost in the desert and running out of water. You’re thirsty, and all of a sudden, you come across a clean and soaking wet towel on a rock. You wring out the towel into a cup you have with you and drink the water, but still being thirsty, you wring the towel as tightly as you can to get more water out of it. Finally, you begin sucking moisture straight out of the towel into your mouth. 

If God’s word is the water, biblical meditation is squeezing, wringing out, and sucking on the towel to get it.

That’s why Christians should meditate on Scripture, but how exactly does one do this?

The most practical way to begin is to take a single meaningful verse of the Bible and consider each word individually. Lately, I’ve been doing this with Luke 12:32 that says: Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

To meditate on this verse, I remove one word from it and read the verse without it, then ask myself how the meaning changes without that word.

For example, in the verse I mentioned, begin by taking out the word fear and read it:
…not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Something is immediately wrong because the verse no longer makes grammatical sense, which makes me think of all the other words Jesus could have said.
Work not, 
Worry not, 
Care not, 
Think not, 
Wonder not, 
Why didn’t he use any of those words? Why did he believe his disciples needed to hear the word fear at the beginning of this sentence? I imagine it is because my problem isn’t caring too often or thinking too much, but fearing. That makes me ask myself what I fear, both generally and right now, today.

Considering my fears, I might now stop to pray, very simply telling God what I fear, or asking him to bring to mind fears I might be overlooking. Then I move on to the next word.

What happens to the verse without the word not?
Fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This also radically alters the meaning, so not is a very important word in this verse.
Without fear not there is no good news in this sentence. It also comes at the beginning, an important place, so it’s safe to assume some emphasis on it. Fear not!

Of course, whenever someone emphatically says to me Fear not! The first thing I do is get scared because fears flood into my mind. That’s how I found out the importance of the next two words - little flock. Let’s take them both out at the same time.

Now the verse reads:
Fear not, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
But who should not fear? Without the words little flock we don’t know.
Just like before, I imagine how else the disciples could be described.
Big flock,
You twelve,
My servants,
You workers,
Faithless people,
But Jesus follows his emphatic statement with a tender picture. Imagine lambs born in the spring, shaky on their legs, nursing at their ewe, beginning to graze on fresh grass. That’s how Jesus views the people he is speaking to here.

If you find yourself a disciple of Jesus who feels like a shaky lamb, Jesus comes to say fear not, little flock.

But why shouldn’t we fear? Lambs are vulnerable creatures. Danger lurks in the wider world. A healthy fear of it seems wise, don’t you think? Asking these questions reveals that I’ve already removed the entire second half of the verse. Let’s put it back in there, except for the next word for.
Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Now the verse reads like two independent sentences, or at least two independent thoughts.

The first thought is fear not, little flock. The second thought: It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Most of the time, this is how I function in the world. I separate these thoughts. As a disciple, I should not fear. Secondly, I should know God’s mission, his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Then I work on these things separately, we might say too separately. This is why the word for is important.

For connects the two thoughts and shows why disciples have no reason to fear. For expresses God’s purpose. He has good pleasure in giving the kingdom to his little flock. If that is his stance, then what do you have to fear? Keep that connecting for in the verse.

At this point, I am moved to prayers of gratitude. Thank you, God, that as a disciple I am part of your little flock. Thank you that you have purposed to give us the kingdom. 

Now I can also ask for something in prayer. God, help me to think on this kingdom more so that I can fear less until all my fear goes away. Of course, it’s not just thinking on the kingdom itself, but also the Father, good pleasure, and giving. Take time to remove each of those from the verse and see how it changes. You will realize how vital every word of the verse is in combating fear.

Take time to wring living water out of a single verse, and you’ll find yourself growing a thick field of nourishing grass that intrusive, weedy thoughts aren’t able to get rooted in. You’ll grow your prayer life as well as you process your thoughts before the Father who takes pleasure in you.