Eat This Book (Part Four)

From The Christian Reader:

Eat this Book (Part Four)


by Brian Carpenter



Hopefully I’ve convinced you (click here to go to Part One of this series) of the biblical basis for and the value of meditation on the Scriptures, but how does one go about doing it practically? How does one draw the maximum benefit from the practice? Wilhelmus a Brakel is very helpful, though brief, here.



First of all, one must approach this task with a sense of inward separation from the world and all its concerns and cares, and a separation unto God and heavenly things. You must learn to carve out a place and a time where you can set aside that which distracts. But you also must learn to discipline your mind to “hold still” for a little while and fix on one thing.



This might be harder than you think, for the hallmark of our days is a hyperstimulation of the mind such that it seldom holds a single thought in it for very long. I really think that is part of the Devil’s plan for our world. I see that most of the toys which people have given to my daughters are designed to reinforce this tendency in a child. It has weakened us tremendously, and not just on spiritual things. We have a very low tolerance for frustration, and thus we don’t persevere in a task easily. Our intellects are much weaker than they were a hundred or two hundred years ago, and we barely notice that it’s happened. If you watch a lot of TV, or listen to a lot of contemporary music, or spend a lot of time on the computer clicking from page to page to page without really settling on any one thing and concentrating on it, it has the effect of shortening your attention span and rendering your mind less capable of sustained contemplation.



But there’s hope. The mind has been trained, and it can be retrained. You can improve your ability to fix your mind on one thing. The human mind can only hold one thing in its conscious thought at a time. It can alternate very rapidly between different things, but it can only be occupied with one thing at a time. It is possible to train it to concentrate so deeply on a subject which transfixes it, that you block out all other thoughts and stimuli. Perhaps you’ve been hard at work, concentrating on some task, absorbed in it, and you suddenly realize that you have to go to the bathroom very badly, or that you hadn’t even noticed the headache or the arthritis pain for a number of hours. Your mind was so fixed on one thing that it blocked out even the signal of a full bladder or a mild pain for a period of time. With practice, the ability to concentrate like this will increase and increase powerfully.



As I said in a previous essay, the higher does not stand without the lower. Grace does not overturn nature, but grants nature new powers. Some Christians put the natural and the supernatural in such opposition that they do not allow for the use of any grace-assisted “natural” means in sanctification. This leads to a kind of Quietism where my main task is to “let go and let God” and any effort or use of natural means on the part of the individual Christian is thought to be counterproductive at best, and dangerous at worst. If you have read any of the 19th and early 20th century writers associated with the Keswick Movement, like Trumbull or Andrew Murray, you will notice this tendency. There is much to profit from in the writings of Andrew Murray, but his theology of sanctification is deficient in this area. I recommend B.B. Warfield’s Studies in Perfectionism as an antidote.





Get The Christian's Reasonable Service from the Reformation Bookstore

The second bit of advice from Brakel is that the proper subject of meditation is not some new truth, but a truth we are already acquainted with. The point of this exercise is to draw new and deeper insights out of things we already “know.” We make connections between these things that we never saw before. We make application of the truth to our lives in specific and life-transforming ways.



For instance, we are undergoing some drama in my presbytery right now, and I’m right in the middle of it. Some men hold positions which are contrary to our standards. A few other ministers and myself are using the means provided for in the constitution of our church to address this. Many of the men in the presbytery are highly resistant and are very angry at us for making trouble. Now some are trying to make use of the same processes against me in order to discourage me and shut me up. My conscience is clear that I am doing nothing wrong. In Hebrews 1:3 we are told that Christ upholds all things by “the word of his power.” Meditate on the implications of that verse with me for a minute.



Nothing exists on its own. It only exists as it is upheld moment by moment in existence by a conscious act of Christ’s will and power. That included the nails that pierced His hands and feet and the whip that bit into his flesh and the men who drove those nails and wielded that whip. That includes me. That includes you. That includes the men in my presbytery who are in opposition to what I think is right and good. If I am doing what is right (and I think I am) what do I have to fear? Why should I be bothered or discombobulated? Why should I fear even the Devil, to whom Christ grants existence moment by moment as it pleases Him to do so? Is there any event He is not in absolute control of? Is there really anyone or anything that is not under His sovereign and absolute sway? As Calvin says somewhere, “Miserable men take it upon themselves to act without God when they cannot even speak unless He grants it.” Daniel says it even better:



but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified. (Daniel 5:23)



You want some steel in your spine in the face of difficulties? Chew on that one for awhile.



Thirdly, the subject of meditation. I maintain that the most proper subject of meditation is the Word of God. Brakel allows for other subjects, but I don’t really think we are in substantial disagreement. For instance, he says that it is profitable to meditate on our own experiences. I think that’s fine, so long as we anchor the interpretation of our experiences in the Word of God. Given what he writes in another chapter called “Concerning Experience,” I think we’re on the same page. For instance, in a time when we are desperately seeking some thing in prayer which God has thus far withheld from us, we might do well to meditate on our experiences with God in prayer from the past. We might see how richly He has answered our prayers in the past. We might see how long he has tarried between request and answer in the past and take comfort in the midst of the current silence and seeming delay. We might meditate on how we prayed for something, only to have Him say “No” and give us some other thing that was better and more suited for us later on.



There is more we could say on these things, but I think I will stop for now. I have a presbytery meeting this week that I need to get ready for. I encourage you to buy the four volume set The Christian’s Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus a Brakel. You will find great wisdom, comfort, and instruction in it.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Brian Carpenter is the pastor of Foothills Community Church (PCA) in Sturgis, South Dakota. He and his wife Laura have two lovely daughters, Evelyn and Jordan, ages 2 and 3. His interests include automotive and motorcycle repair and rebuilding, welding and metal fabrication, economics and monetary theory, philosophy, classical education, church history, and really expensive Scotch whisky. Brian blogs at TheHappyTR and AFiresideChat. His sermons are available online at SermonAudio.com.