2 Ways to Discipline Yourself to Meditate on God’s Word (Ps 119:17-24)

By Rooting Out Personal Pride (vs. 17-21). Our blessings outweigh our sufferings. Another psalmist wrote, “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you” (Ps 116:7). And we will also see it again in Psalm 142:7 – “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.” We must ask God to open our eyes to what He is doing, and when we see His innumerable blessings, and see no reason for boasting, we will be in a healthier position to meditate on His Word. Prideful, insolent men do not have Scripture on their mind, because there is no room for self and Scripture. The selfish do not the Bible more as a menu where they pick and choose what they want or don’t want; they don’t see it as a guidebook to the sanctification necessary to see God. Pride is an enemy of God and it is an enemy of His Word.

By Refusing to Use Our Tongue for Evil (vs. 22-24). Slander, gossip, discouraging words, criticism – these kinds of sinful usages of our tongue will lead us away from meditating on God’s truth. When we open our mouth and destroy others, we are not speaking in the holy spirit of God’s revealing word for others. We are not using our words to give life but take life. When words are many, meditation is mostly absent.