Chapter 1. The opening of the words and the Proposition asserted
Chapter 1.
The opening of the words and the Proposition asserted GRACE produces delight in God, and delight produces meditation.
This is a duty which consists in the essentials of religion, and which nourishes the very life-blood of it. And that the psalmist may show how much the godly man is habituated and inured to this blessed work of meditation, he subjoins, "In His law he meditates day and night." It is not that there may be no intermission sometimes. God allows time for our calling; he grants some relaxation.
But when it is said that the godly man meditates day and night, the meaning is, frequently, that he is very conversant in the duty. It is a command of God to pray without ceasing, 1The 5.17. The meaning is not that we should be always praying, as the Euchites held, 33 but that every day we should set some time apart for prayer; so Drusius
34 and others interpret it. We read in the old law of the continual sacrifice, Num 28.24 — it is not that the people of Israel did nothing else but sacrifice, but because they had their stated hours for it.
Every morning and evening they offered; and therefore it was called the continual sacrifice. And thus the godly man is said to meditate day and night; that is, he is often at this work; he is no stranger to meditation.
Doctrine. The proposition that results out of the text is this: that a good Christian is a meditating Christian. "I will meditate on your precepts," Psa 119.15. "Meditate on these things," 1Tim 4.15.
Meditation is chewing on the truths we have heard. The beasts in the old law that did not chew the cud, were unclean; and the Christian that does not "chew the cud" by meditation, is to be considered unclean. Meditation is like watering the seed: it makes the fruits of grace flourish.
To illustrate the point, here are several things to be discussed.
1. I will show you what meditation is (Chapter 2).
2. That meditation is a duty (Chapter 3).
3. The difference between meditation and memory (Chapter 4).
4. The difference between meditation and study (Chapter 5).
5. The subject of meditation (Chapter 6).
6. The necessity of meditation (Chapter 7).