Many years ago my son, John, introduced me to the cartoon series Pinky & The Brain. A question that the Brain would ask Pinky each episode was the title of this THOUGHT to which Pinky would answer with an inane response, something that no one would ever be pondering. For example, “Are you pondering what I’m pondering? I think so Brain, but who would want to pierce a brosnan?” It seems that in this day and age too many people are either not pondering anything, or they are pondering the things that went through Pinky’s mind, but all too few are pondering the things that really affect life.
Psalm 1:1-2 states, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Notice the verbs in this verse that describe the actions of the unblessed: he walks, he stands, he sits- verbs with an order of decreasing motion. The unblessed man walks through life having accepted the counsel of the ungodly as true, but without pondering it at all. The person who stands in the way of sinners may have given some thought to what is true, but has taken a stand with those who oppose biblical revelation. Only worse is the person who is entrenched (sits) in the philosophy of life of those who despise God’s Word. These are the ones that have given much pondering to why a person would want to pierce a brosnan. All their contemplations, no matter how exhaustive they may be, cannot improve the quality of life one iota.
In contrast, the person who meditates upon God’s Word is blessed of God. Unlike other forms of meditation where a person empties their mind of everything and then waits on something new to come to them, biblical meditation is accomplished by filling one’s mind with the Word of God and then analyzing it, collating it, and most importantly, applying it to one’s activities in life. This is not something that can be accomplished in just a moment or two, but something that requires a continual process throughout the day and night.
The blessed person though simply is not a meditative person, but a person who meditates in “the law of the Lord.” When “the law” is used in Scripture it can refer to the law that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, but usually this is designated by the term, “law of Moses.” The “law of the Lord” when used in a general sense refers to anything that God has said concerning life. The word “law” is used to emphasize that what is revealed is absolute, something that cannot be broken without consequence. One of the shortcomings of accepting an evolutionary explanation of the origins of man is that all that has happened has occurred by chance. Evolution does not allow for a lawgiver. But God created life and therefore, He alone, can state with absolute certainty how it is to be lived.
The benefits of pondering the law of the Lord are stated in the third verse of Psalm 1- “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Notice a couple of thoughts concerning this promise. First, there is a certainty of productivity because the tree is planted by not just a river, but rivers of water. In life, a singular source of nourishment may dry up, but the blessed person has multiple sources of nourishment. Next, while there is a guarantee of productivity, it is not necessarily immediate, but “in his season.” Third, blessedness does not remove trials but gives the resources to overcome them. The sun that may scorch the earth and cause the leaf to whither cannot exhaust the resources of the blessed person. Finally, what the blessed person does prospers. Unlike the prosperity preachers today who advocate that the believer should prosper, the blessed person prospers others.
Now, in order for me to be productive today, I need to go and ponder the Word of God. Are you pondering what I’m pondering?