"Now, if you equally knew how to count the great profit of meditation, you would deem it a positive gain to yourselves to spend some time therein, for meditation is most profitable to the spirit, it is an extremely healthful and excellent occupation. Far from being wasted time, it is a judicious employment of time." (MEDITATION ON GOD NO. 2690 - here)
That is certainly a raving recommendation to practice meditation!
Spurgeon continued:
"Do not imagine that the meditative man is necessarily lazy, contrariwise, he lays the best foundation for useful works. He is not the best student who reads the most books, but he who meditates the most upon them...Meditation is thus a very excellent employment."
Again, what a good sale for the practice of both reading and meditating upon God's inspired word!
Spurgeon continued:
"First, I think meditation furnishes the mind somewhat with rest. It is the couch of the soul. The time that a man spends in necessary rest, he never reckons to be wasted, because he is refreshing and renovating himself for further exertion. Meditation, then, is the rest of the spirit."
The "couch of the soul"! Good analogy! That little meditative thought is delightful, is it not? It is the "rest of the spirit" indeed! This is not denying that "study," or deep thought, wearies the flesh, as Solomon says - "much study is a weariness to the flesh." (Eccl. 12: 12) Real lazy people do not generally spend time in deep contemplation about the sciences, or philosophy and theology, and they certainly do not spend their contemplative time for the purpose of recuperating and getting ready to go back to work. Spurgeon speaks of a meditative Christian who "knew how to spend a little time daily in the calm repose of contemplative retirement."
Spurgeon continued:
"At times, tis well to muse upon heaven, or if you are a man loving to revel in the prophetic future, turn over the mystic page, and study the sacred visions recorded in the Book of Daniel, or the Book of Revelation. As you do enter these hallowed intricacies, and do meditate upon these impressive symbols, you will rise up from your study mightily refreshed. You will find it like a couch to your mind."
Well, amen to that! All who have experienced such times of study and meditation can say amen.
Spurgeon continued:
"Again, meditation is the machine in which the raw material of knowledge is converted to the best uses. Let me compare it to a winepress. By reading, and research, and study, we gather the grapes, but it is by meditation that we press out the juice of those grapes, and obtain the wine. How is it that many men who read very much know very little?"
Here is a man who has spent time meditating upon meditation! He was blessed in the meditation! So am I. Are you?
Spurgeon continued:
"I like, when I have read a book for about half an hour, to walk awhile and think it over. I shut up the volume, and say, “Now, Mr. Author, you have made your speech, let me think over what you have said."
This is a good insight into Spurgeon the man. I too have practiced the same habit many times when reading and contemplating the writings of scripture or of theologians and philosophers.
Spurgeon continued:
"Thus, you see that we need meditation to make use of what we have discovered. As it is the rest of the soul, so it is, at the same time, the means of making the best use of what the soul has acquired."
People need quiet time to deeply consider what they have read or studied. This idea is captured in the famous sculptor of the Thinker.
Spurgeon continued:
"Who are the men that can go into a controversy, and get the mastery? Why, the men who meditate when they are alone. Who are the men that can preach? Not those who gad about, and never commune with their own hearts alone, but those who think earnestly as well when no one is near them as when there is a crowd around them. Who are the authors to write your books, and keep up the constant supply of literature? They are meditative men."
Well said. Spurgeon shows that he is a man like David and other holy men and women in scripture who thought upon God and his word daily. True believers have always been "meditative" men and women.
Spurgeon continued:
"The best and most saintly of men have been men of meditation. Isaac went out into the fields at eventide to meditate. David says, “I will meditate in thy statutes.” Paul, who himself meditated continually on all that related to the Gospel, writing to Timothy concerning the important things needful in a good minister of Jesus Christ, says, “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”"
What a thing to contemplate, ironically! The best and most saintly have been given to the practice of meditation? If that is so, then the least saintly are they who meditate very little? How do you weigh in that balance?
Spurgeon continued:
"To the Christian, meditation is most essential. I would almost question the being of a Christian, and I should positively deny his well being, who lived habitually without meditation. Meditation and prayer are twin sisters, and both of them appear to me equally necessary to Christian life. I think meditation must exist where there is prayer, and prayer is sure to exist where there is meditation."
Oh let us keep these things always in mind!
Spurgeon continued:
"So is it with many of you, after you have caught the sermon, you allow it to run away. How often do you through lack of meditation, miss the entire purpose for which the discourse was designed! Unless you meditate upon the truths we declare unto you, you will gather little sweetness, you will acquire little profit, and certainly, you will be in no wise established therein to your edification. Can you get the honey from the comb until you press it? You may be refreshed while you listen to the sermon, but it is the meditation afterwards which extracts the honey, and gets the best and most luscious savor therefrom."
Oh such good counsel!
Spurgeon continued:
"Let me tell you that there ought to be special times for meditation. I think every man should set apart a portion of each day for this gracious exercise. A Christian will ever be in a lean state if he has no time for sacred musings before his God. Those men who know most of God are such as meditate most upon Him. Those who realize most experientially the doctrines of grace are those who meditate and soar beyond the reach of all sublunary things."
Amen!
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