Everything I know about meditation, I learned in the children's program. In the BSF preschool program to be precise. Sometime after the Bible story and the muscle activities to get the wiggles out, every class has Quiet Time. They remind the children of truths about God they learned in the Bible story, then they have them lie quietly for a few minutes, supposedly thinking about God. The children's biggest challenges are energetic, wiggly bodies. Mine is a lethargic, unfocused mind. So I am taking baby steps toward meditation by the same method. After my daily study, I focus on the main truth I learned about God, and then lay quietly for a few minutes. Quiet body. Quiet mind. Thinking about God. If my study raised a question, that is the time I listen for the answer.
Lately I have been studying Revelation and meditating on grace. One idea that came to me from the sealing of the 144,000 in chapter 7 is that--Grace is not what is leftover after the judgment has passed, it is the foundation of it. That sounded impressively deep and spiritual but I wondered, was it accurate? So I thought my way through the Bible:
- God chose Noah before the flood. It would have derailed His plan for the continuation of man and the plan of redemption to have thought about Noah after the flood.
- God rescues Lot before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- God positioned Joseph in Egypt before the famine, though that is never listed as a judgment.
- God preserved a faithful remnant before the exile.
- God is saving an exact number of Gentiles before completing the redemption of the Jews.
- God will seal 144,000 witnesses before the tribulation judgments.
In the plan of God grace precedes judgment. The judgment would not achieve its intended purpose without God's grace in preserving a family of faith. Admittedly, sometimes my meditation leads to a few minutes of sleep, but what beautiful thoughts to sleep on.
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