There is a familiar discomfort in the ear that is experienced by anyone who has flown in an airplane or descended under the water for more than about 6 feet. The explanation has to do with atmospheric pressure. It changes as we ascend into the air, or descend under the water. The experience under the water creates a greater pressure because water is of course heavier than air. At sea level, the atmospheric pressure is about 14.7pounds per square inch. That means that the 1’x1’ column of air that extends from the top of your head into the clouds weights 14.7 lbs. at sea level. In every square inch of your body this pressure is being exerted. You are literally under pressure. Why don’t you collapse? Because the pressure inside your body (i.e. nose, ears, lungs), is the same as the pressure outside. So as we ascend or descend, we must equalize the pressure inside our body with the pressure outside our body in order to remain comfortable. This is usually done by holding your nose and blowing it so that equalization may occur through your eustachian tube in your ears. It feels like a “pop” or a “squeak” as the air equalizes.
I think this process might illustrate the connection between Bible intake, meditation and application. When we read God’s Word there is a spiritual pressure that we are exposed to. The pressure may be like an exhilarating dive into crystal clear water, exposing us to the depths of the beauty and mercy of Christ and his great work. Or it might be like ascending the hill of the Lord and standing in his holy place. Whenever we encounter God in his Word there is a kind of pressure upon our soul to respond in repentance, faith, and worship. This response is what I’m calling meditation and it is something like the equalizing of the pressure within our hearts to the truth of God’s word that comes to us from without. When our hearts have rightly responded to God’s word, then we find a new level of trust and obedience that we can joyfully walk in. If we fail to meditate upon God’s Word we experience the pain and disruption in our lives that always comes when we are resisting the Holy Spirit.
We must hear God’s word, meditate upon it, and walk in it. The missing element, too often, is meditation. Without meditation upon God’s Gospel provision in Christ for our life, the Word of God is experienced as pressure and seems painful instead of profitable and prosperous.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8
