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Beyond Devotions (Psalm 119:15)

I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.
Psalm 119:15

The psalmist declares his commitment to God’s word. He does not indicate a simple desire. He does not put conditions on his intent. He states what will be a priority in his life. He begins with his commitment to meditate on God’s precepts.

It seems the concept of biblical meditation is almost a forgotten discipline. And yet the Scriptures speak often of the importance of meditation. In fact, we will address this topic numerous times in Psalm 119.

Not only is meditation a critical discipline of the Christian life, it is something that believers are to practice all day long and even into the night.

O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalm 119:97

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1–2

The call to biblical meditation is a reminder that God intends His children to regularly and consistently contemplate the truth of God’s word. It should be our desire to know it more fully and to practice it more intentionally. When we learn to meditate on God’s word as a matter of practice, we are much more likely to be prepared for the divine opportunities that God brings into our lives every day. We will also be vastly more prepared to put off sin and put on righteousness.

The psalmist links his meditation on God’s precepts with his regard for God’s ways. After all, the more we know and love God’s word, the more we will live in light of it!

“As food undigested will not nourish the body, so the word of God, not considered with deep meditation and reflection, will not feed the soul.”1

“He who has an inward delight in anything will not long withdraw his mind from it. As the miser often returns to look upon his treasure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord.”2

1W. S. Plummer, Psalms, 1028
2Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The Treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 161). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.

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Rocky Wyatt

Rocky Wyatt came to know the Lord as a young teenager and began working in youth ministry when in college. After serving in churches in Utah, California and Colorado, Rocky moved to Texas to serve as Youth Pastor at Countryside Bible Church. He served there for 26 years where he eventually moved from youth ministry to serve as an Associate Pastor.

Over the course of his ministry, Rocky has always had a desire to train men for pastoral ministry in the context of the local church. In 1992 he started XL Ministries, an organization that is committed to helping churches establish intensive internships for pastoral training. In 2020 he left his position at Countryside Bible Church to become the Executive Director of XL Ministries and now works full time assisting churches in training men for ministry.

He is co-author of The Youth Ministry Training Manual, a textbook for training youth pastors, and has also written multiple other resources for use in various local church ministries. He is currently working on a book to encourage churches to take the primary responsibility to train pastors.

Rocky is married to Pamela, has two sons and daughters-in-law, and ten grandchildren. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.1 Corinthians 15:58