ABC: Bible Meditation for Me! Q Is for Quiet!

ABC Bible Meditation for Me!  Q Is for Quiet!

ABC Bible Meditation for Me!: Bible Meditation Vs. Eastern Meditation

Introduction:  This is a lesson in a twenty-six part ABC series focusing on lessons designed for parents, grandparents, teachers, and kids.  Please share this lesson, for it has some very important thoughts on the often misused verse Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God!"

Q Is for a Quiet Place

Q is for a quiet place
just over yonder,
Where God's word
I can read, and then
ponder!

Morning Watch at Camp Cherith

When I was a young girl I went to camp.   Each morning near our cabin we picked a quiet place to have Morning Watch.  There we used our Bibles to fill in a little book that helped us think about what we had read.  Do you have a quiet place where you can go to read your Bible, meditate, and pray?  I hope so!

A Solitary Place

Jesus went to a solitary place to get alone.  What did Jesus do there?  He prayed to his heavenly Father.  Read about it in Mark 1:29-38.

The Be Still Verse

There is a verse in Psalm 46:10 people quote all the time, and they put it on posters on their walls.  It seems to be everywhere.  People use it to try to tell us that God wants us to get all quiet and still.  Then we are to say a word or words to clear the mind and do "centering prayer."*  There's just one problem.  That is not what that verse means.  Nothing in the Bible tells us to meditate like that.  Read "the whole Psalm" to understand.

*  A type of meditation being promoted in many churches under the guise of prayer. (Ray Yungen,  A Time of Departing, p.202)

Here's a poem to explain more.

From Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength-
a very present help in trouble;
I will not fear for God is near.
      God reigns supreme-
        a Ps. 46 theme!
Don't panic, be still for God will
be exalted among the nations,
God will be exalted on the earth.
Therefore, we must trust
for the LORD of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge!
                                             LEP

A Meditation Recitation

Psalm 4:4  "Stand in awe, and sin not; commune* with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.  Selah."
*  Means to meditate on or think within your heart.

The Eastern Way

Sometimes I See

Sometimes I see
people meditating
on my TV
with closed eyes
trying to visualize,
trying to stop
their thoughts,
with mudra fingers
on their knees,
and I am sad to see
them, for I know it's
not the Bible way
to meditate or pray!
                          LEP

Question:  Have you seen people meditating on TV sitting with crossed legs in the lotus pose?  Remember that is not God's way to meditate, it is man's way.

Charlotte and the Quiet Place

Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin is a mindfulness picture book that tells of a girl whose house, neighborhood, school, and city were all so noisy.  One day Charlotte just happened to chase her dog under a tree in a park where she sat down.  Everything was so quiet.  Right away Charlotte began to meditate.  She began to go to a quiet place inside her, the book author says, and make up pictures in her mind.  Charlotte was visualizing.  Is this the Bible way?  Which way was it?  Why?

Parental Suggestion:

Sitting Still Like a Frog Parent Book Look 

Sitting Still Like a Frog (2014) for ages five-twelve by Eline Snel can be viewed at Amazon.com books.  Click below the "Look Inside" words to see a bit about this popular book.  Note that Jon Kabot-Zinn, mindfulness guru, has done the foreword, and his wife Myla Zinn does audios of exercises described in the book.  The book published by Shambhala Publishers is but one of the numerous books that you might find in your local library or bookstore.  Red flag this and like books, or anything published by Shambhala.*

*Hindu or Tibetan Buddhist mythical paradise spoken of in ancient texts.  (Wikipedia)