'As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.’
Psalm 119:143
Thank God for skilled doctors who know how to diagnose illnesses and prescribe medications that bring health and healing. But here’s something for you to think about: what if many of our stress-related illnesses could be helped with meditation as well as medication? The psalmist wrote: ‘As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands. Your laws are always right; help me to understand them so I may live…Those who love your instructions have great peace’ (vv. 143-144, 165). When there’s a chemical imbalance in your body it may need to be treated with medication, an altered diet, and daily exercise. But when your soul is starved to the point of dysfunction, it needs to be treated with God’s Word. We’re not talking about skimming through a few verses and rushing out into your day. Butterflies cover a lot of ground, but only bees gather honey! Sometimes you have to stay with a particular Scripture until you extract the honey; to ‘live with’ and ‘meditate’ on it till it takes root and starts to grow within you (see Psalm 119:48). It takes time to change ingrained character traits. God may work on one area of your life for several weeks, or months. New habits and ways of thinking need time to be established. You must recognise this and allow God to reveal and reinforce new truth in your life. Don’t fool yourself into thinking because you read a certain scriptural truth it will produce instant change. It must be applied daily, and that takes time and meditation.
