Bringing Meditation Back
Meditation is distinct from mere reading — especially so-called "speed reading." It means not just running the words quickly through your mind, aiming only to grasp a minimum of meaning, but pausing enough to ponder their significance, and trying to feel their emotional weight by pressing them into the heart. Meditation seeks to experience the truth of the text — not just pass information through the mind, but truly grasp it with our affections.
Jack Davis is right in waving the flag for "a more reflective and leisurely engagement with Scripture" in our day (Meditation and Communion with God: Contemplating Scripture in an Age of Distraction, by John Jefferson Davis. 10.00 kindle Footnote on the book which I got 04 16 2016
As culture has become at once more secular and more religiously pluralistic, a renaissance of interest in the spiritual disciplines has been sparked in evangelical Protestant circles. Mounting levels of stress, burnout and spiritual dryness among those in ministry has only stoked this desire for spiritual nourishment and renewal. John Jefferson Davis helps us recover the practice of meditation on Scripture as he explores the biblical and theological foundations rooted in the arrival of "the age to come" in Jesus Christ. Indeed by virtue of our union with Christ, the Triune God of the Bible draws near to his people so that they may also draw near to him. Meditation on God's revelation has always been central to enjoying communion with the Father through the Son and in the Spirit. Davis gives us fresh and practical guidance on removing the obstacles that block our fellowship with God and listening to Scripture in ways that can enrich our worship, faith, hope and love.
). Far too often, we are far too rushed when we come to our Bibles. According to Davis, the nature of modern life, and the "information overload" we have through television, smartphones, and endless new media "makes a slow, unhurried, and reflective reading of Scripture more vital than ever"
