Loading...
Latest news
August 28, 2019

Vain Thoughts

Preacher:
Series:
Passage: Psalm 63:5-7
Service Type:

Are there times when you are not able to go to sleep at night, or you wake up in the night and are not able to go back to sleep? In the darkness we often begin to hash over in our minds some event of the day or some coming event we are facing. Should I do this or that, or should I not do this? What might happen if I do that or don’t do that? We become ambivalent or as James 1:8 says, “double minded”. Like the wave of the sea our mind is tossed about by every new wind of thought, things that we are unable to do anything about at that moment and probably will not even remember in the morning. This is vain, useless thinking.

David said, in Psalm 119:113, “I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. David hated this ambivalent, useless thinking because they robbed him of all the glorious truths that God desired to reveal to him when he meditated on Scripture.

In Psalm 63:6 David gives us the solution: “When I remember thee upon my bed, [and] meditate on thee in the [night] watches.” The answer to our ambivalent mental meanderings is to remember that God is present and delights in having us recite to Him verses we have memorized. As we meditate on His Word we are blessed and helped. It is important that we meditate on the verses we have memorized, not just review them. Memorization is only of value if we meditate on what we have memorized. Meditation is sometimes compared to a cow chewing its cud. We ask ourselves questions such as, what does this mean? How does it apply to me? We need to have a night light and paper and pencil handy to jot down things God shows us in the verse, and also note what information we want to look up later in dictionaries or commentaries.

David tells us in verse 5 what happens when we decide to meditate on God and His words: “My soul shall be satisfied as [with] marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise [thee] with joyful lips.” As marrow and fat provide rich flavor to the soup, so communion with God provides richness to our fellowship with Him. God opens up new insights into His truth, and shows us how that truth applies to our lives. This causes us to burst into joyous praise to God for His blessings.

As we remember how God has helped us in the past we are able to trust Him for the present trials as David tells us in verse 7 of Psalm 63: “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice”. This makes us better able to follow the challenge presented to us in James 1:2 (NKJV), “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials”. This is difficult to do unless we realize we are safely protected under God’s personal care and will have the joy of seeing how God delivers us.

So don’t let vain, useless, rambling thoughts rob you of the joy of having God reveal to you new, exciting truths from His Word that will bring joyous victories into your life.

Topics:
Leave a Reply