DANGERS OF NEGLECTING MEDITATION

By Edmund Calamy (1600-1666), Puritan pastor in London

The reason why people harden their hearts in sin and do not repent of their sins, but go on obstinately, is for lack of meditation... They did not repent because they did not reflect upon what they did; they did not bethink themselves, so the phrase is: “If they shall bethink themselves… and repent” (1Ki 8:47). They did not… consider the evil that is in sin… and seriously consider what an evil and bitter thing it is to sin against God, [how] you durst not willingly sin against God. The reason why men go on rashly, heedlessly, obstinately in sin is for lack of the meditation of the evil of sin.

The reason why all the sermons we hear do us no more good is for lack of divine meditation. For it is with sermons as it is with [food]: it is not having [food] upon your table that will feed you, but you must eat it; and not only eat it, but concoct and digest it, or else your [food] will do you no good. So it is with sermons: it is not hearing sermons [that] will do you good, but…digesting them by meditation. Pondering in your hearts what you hear... One sermon well digested, well meditated upon, is better than twenty sermons without meditation…

I am confident the great reason why we have so many… Christians that are lean in knowledge and lean in grace, though they hear sermon upon sermon… is because they concoct and digest nothing. They never ponder and meditate upon what they hear; and this is what our Savior Christ speaks of: by the seed that was sown by the highway side is meant a man that hears the word and never thinks of it after he hath heard it, but suffereth the devil to steal it out of his heart (Luke 8:5). As the husbandman that sows the seed in the highway, you know he never plows it, he never looks that it should come to anything. [For] many of you, the sermons you hear are like the seed sown in the highway: you never cover it by meditation, you never think of it when you have heard it; and that is the reason you get no more good by what you hear…

The reason why the threatenings of God make no more impression upon our hearts is for lack of meditation. There are terrible threatenings against sin in the Word; but, alas, there are few people affected with these threatenings. The threatenings of God in Scripture are like the rattling of hail upon the tiles: they make a great noise, but they make no impression. And what is the reason? It is for lack of meditation. We do not lay them to heart; we do not consider that these threatenings belong to us as long as we continue in our sins. Oh, if a wicked man meditates solemnly upon the threatenings of God, it would make his heart ache, especially when the spirit of bondage goes along with them.

The reason why the mercies of God do no more good upon us is for lack of meditation. There are many mercies that all of us have received from God—many personal mercies and many family mercies— and all these mercies are so many motives to service. Now, what is the reason the saints of God bury the mercies of God in forgetfulness and are no more thankful for mercies? The reason is for lack of meditation: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider” (Isa 1:2-3). That is the reason why they are so unthankful. It is with the mercies of God as it is with the fire: if a man walks by the fire and doth not sit at it, it will never heat him much. If he be cold, he must abide at the fire or else he will never be hot. So, it is not a slight thought of the mercies of God that will affect your hearts, but it must be a dwelling upon them by meditation that will warm your hearts…

The reason why afflictions do work no more upon us and why we are never the better for the afflicting hand of God is for lack of meditation. Ecclesiastes 7:14 is a rare text: “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.” Times of affliction are times of meditation, and of what must we consider in the day of adversity? We must consider who it is that afflicts us, why we are afflicted, and [what] we shall do to have our afflictions sanctified. We must consider the meaning of God’s rod and how we may be taught spiritual things by these afflictions. Now, because we do not meditate upon God and upon His afflicting hand when we are afflicted, because we have slight heads under our afflictions, we get [little] good by our afflictions. I have observed [that] as soon as ever we are recovered from our afflictions, many of us (the Lord pardon it unto us) forget God presently….

Christ saith... “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luk 12:22-25, 27). If you considered the lilies and the ravens, if you studied the love of God to you, you would trust Him under any sad providences…