Reading the Bible for Transformation

Meditating on God’s Word ushers us into the green pastures of God’s transformative grace. The Puritan Edmund Calamy (1600-1666) defined biblical meditation as “dwelling upon the mercies we receive and chewing upon the promises.” Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) described meditation as a “serious intention of the mind whereby we come to search out the truth, and settle it effectually upon the heart.” When we ponder, think about, wrestle with, and chew on the text (so to speak), we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

When we talk about “meditation,” we are not talking about the Eastern religious practice of crossing your legs, saying “Om,” and emptying your mind. Far from it. Biblical meditation seeks to fill the mind with the truth, meaning, and application of the biblical text. In so doing, the Spirit of God aligns our minds with the mind of Christ so that we might be transformed into his likeness.

Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) was born in England and emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633. Hooker led a group from what is now Cambridge, MA to settle in Hartford, CT.

Psalm 1 speaks of a man whose “delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night” (v. 2). How often should we meditate on God’s Word? At all times. It should fill our minds in both morning and evening. Moreover, we are admonished to teach the Scriptures to our children “when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Dt 6:7). Teaching and articulating the truth of the Word takes a certain measure of knowing the word. And knowing the Word takes a certain measure of meditating on the Word.

But Psalm 1 also shows us the effects of meditation: the fruit of transformation. “He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither” (v. 3). Meditating on God’s Word bears the fruit of a healthy and fruit-filled faith, which brings delight and godly perspective to your life and to the lives of those around you.

In our day, we have witnessed an increasing assault on prayer. America has largely abandoned the idea of prayer, and we have seen it removed from the public square. People today do not cry out to God unless they experience trials or difficulties—treating God more like a divine bellhop than the sovereign Supplier of good. But the real battle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12); Satan will employ his devices to turn the privilege of prayer into an empty ritual.

John Bunyan counseled, “Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.” Matthew Henry (1662-1714), the great Bible com-mentator, confined his prayers—almost entirely—to the language of Scripture. He advised, “The sacred dialect [should] be most used.” Praying the Word of God to God not only provides God-honoring language, but also transforms our souls in the process. By praying Scripture, we appropriate its truth in our thoughts and affections, which renews our minds, and draws us heavenward.

Those who experience the severity of suffering—who don’t seem to have the words to offer in prayer—can turn to Holy Writ and let God’s Word become theirs. Or, if you are seeking words to lift your affections, you can take a familiar text, say Psalm 23, and begin: “Lord, if you are my Shepherd, how can I be in want? If you are my Shepherd, you will feed me, lead me, and take care of me. Thank you, God, that I can call you my Shepherd.” Filling our prayers with God’s Word transforms our hearts by reflecting back to him the holiness and beauty of his revealed truth.

Have you ever noticed all of the “one another” passages, especially throughout the New Testament? We are called to “love one another” (Jn 13:34), bear with one another and forgive one another (Col 3:13), “instruct one another” (Rm 15:14), and so on. While Christianity is certainly personal, it’s not private. The faith wrought in you by the Holy Spirit is meant to be a faith expressed within the living and active community of faith—the local church.

In this grace-filled community, believers are transformed through the faithful preaching of the Word, Bible study, small groups, counseling, and the many other contexts of Scripture-saturated edification. As we shouldn’t neglect meeting together in worship (Heb 10:25), so also we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from the communion of saints. As the Puritan Joseph Hall (1574-1656) once noted, “There is no place for any loose stone in God’s edifice.”

You need your brothers and sisters and their gifts, which God gives for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12). “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another” (Pr 27:17). From accountability to encouragement, God has seen fit to equip you with the tools for gospel transformation within the community of faith.

Whether you are a new believer or a seasoned saint, the Scriptures provide deep wells of transformative truth. Jesus prayed for his disciples, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (Jn 17:17). We today enjoy a rich heritage of biblical fidelity, stemming from the Protestant Reformation and the Puritans. Indeed, that great cloud of witnesses—those who have gone before—now beckon us onward in our race of faith. As you read, memorize, meditate, and pray the Scriptures within the community of faith, may God plant you by streams of grace so that you may bear fruit in season, for his glory and your joy.

Bunyan, John, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which is to Come, ed. C. J. Lovik (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009).

Calamy, Edmund, The Art of Divine Meditation (London: Printed for Tho. Parkhurst and J. Collier, 1680).

Henry, Matthew, A Method for Prayer (Berwick: W. Gracie, 1819).

Hooker, Thomas, The Application of Redemption: Books 9-10 (Ames, Iowa: International Outreach, 2008).

Thomas, I. D. E., A Puritan Gold Treasury (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1977).