Actually, meditation for the Christian begins in the Middle East. A guy named David. “Old Testament” if you must, but Jesus, Peter, and Paul thought he was valid for New Testament thought and oft quoted from him. David was touched by the Holy Ghost, and that was sufficient for him to be included as a New Covenant entity.

The content for Christian meditation is spelled out very neatly in four of David’s Psalms.

First there is the law. David delighted in the law of the Lord and counseled us to meditate in it day and night. Psalm 1:2, and Psalm 119. His law. His ways. His words. His statutes. The law is holy, after all. Jesus was not a Law-breaker, but a Law-fulfiller. The Law of God stands. Men are broken and can be forgiven and made whole, but the Law of God, His will forever, is in place. Meditate on God’s perfect Law, brought to its zenith in the one called Jesus who made often the brash comment, “You have heard that it was said…. But I say…” Oh, meditate on the “I say” of God in Jesus. Jesus filled His apostles with that knowledge of His will. You may meditate freely on their words, too, for their words are His, and His are the Father’s.

Then there is the very Person of God. Psalm 63:3. The Law points us to a Person. The Book was not written to be a Best-Seller. Though it is. It was not written to make us smart. Though it does. It was not written to be a how-to book. And it is that. But it was written that we might know Him. Jesus said it is possible to search the Scriptures all day long and not find Him and eternal life. The Book points to the Man who was God. Meditate on Him.

Meditate on all He has done and is doing. Psalm 77:12. The Book tells what He has done. A look at the move of God in the Church today and in all ages tells what He is doing. Think about it. Mull it over in your mind and heart constantly. God is alive. He is doing things. He will do things in my life.

And meditate on His finished work. Psalm 143:5. The creation. Take a hard look at the beauty around you. See the handiwork of an artist. The new creation. What he has wrought in you and those you know.

Meditate. How does that work? Like yoga, maybe? Cross-legged? Face to the ground? Humming?

Not exactly.

The Hebrew words translated into English indicate a pleasant murmuring, a muttering, a pondering, conversing with one’s self aloud, praying, groaning, a solemn sound. And often, all of this put to music!

Quite a range of thought. So get your mental picture and be free to express it as the Spirit within you leads. The pattern we know from the Psalms is that meditation is a heart issue that is projected to the mind and then out the mouth. That matches up with the life in the Spirit for New Testament Davids. “Out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”

Tip: Meditation is not memorization. Not first. First comes the thought from God. From His Word or His Person or His creation etc. Then the processing of it, chewing it, delighting in it, setting it to music, dancing if you so desire. His Word and His Spirit then fill you. Quite often those original words will indeed be etched on your memory for quite some time. But mental acquisition is not the goal. The goal is a renewed mind and life.