Psalm 119:148 My eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in your word. Mine eyes prevent the night-watches. "Prevent" is here used in the sense of "anticipate." When the night-watches come he is wide awake; he does not let them interrupt his meditations by their demand for sleep. He is not taken at unawares. According to the psalmist's thought, morning is the fitting time for earnest resolves, and evening the time for quiet meditation. Meditation can be understood when contrasted with study. Study deals with something outside the mind, and presented to it. Meditation deals with the contents of the mind itself, and that which may be suggested by the indwelling Spirit. A panorama of the contents of our mind is continually moving before us. Usually we rapidly select to meet the need of the moment, according to the mental laws of association. In meditation we let the panorama move by more slowly, pay more quiet heed to its varied contents, End so discover and enjoy much that usually escapes attention. Apply this to the panorama of our knowledge of God's Word, and we have religious meditation. I. MEDITATION HELPS US BY MAKING US KNOW' MORE. Illustrate by the difference between the tourist who rushes through delightful scenery, getting no more than general impressions, and the tourist who tarries awhile in one place, finding out ever-fresh charms, and seeing everything beautiful in new moods and settings. The man who only read God's Word may know much, but the man who quietly meditates therein knows more. II. MEDITATION HELPS US BY MAKING US KNOW BETTER. Illustrate by the stereo-scope. Just look into it, and you can see nothing unusual. Look fixedly, quietly, and everything in the picture seems to get place and relation. You realize vistas and distances, and the full charm is revealed. The Word of God has but little to give in response to a mere look; all its best things come to view when the soul is quiet enough to fix its gaze, and look long and lovingly. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.WEB: My eyes stay open through the night watches, that I might meditate on your word. |
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