שויתי ה׳ לנגדי תמיד
“Shiviti Adonai le’negdi tamid.”
Psalm 16:8

Meditation has become very popular in the last 20 years. Millions of people seeking to learn eastern wisdom for emptying the mind to find peace. Emptiness of mind is thought to be the bridge to detachment, and ultimately happiness.

Biblical meditation is not emptiness, it is fullness, as the Hebrew word for meditation means to be full and ruminating. What are we full of? God’s Word.

Psalm 122:1 says, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” I rejoiced? Rejoicing when entering the house of God is from drawing near to the One we have meditated on, as Psalm 16:8, in Hebrew above, says, “I set God before me always.”

Setting the Father before us always is contrary to meditation practices popularized today, as setting Him before us places us in His fullness, and as we read in Psalm 16:11, “in your presence there is fullness of joy.”

So joy and happiness is not from attempting to become empty, but full in the presence of the Lord.

Be well. Shalom.

There is a rabbinic teaching, based on the Torah, that animals cannot carry the burdens of their masters on Shabbat. They can, however, be led or drawn around the property by a collar.

The word translated as “collar” in this ruling is the Hebrew word “shir.” Some sages argued that the ruling should have used the word “sher,” a rarely used Hebrew word meaning collar or bracelet, related to the word “shir.” Nevertheless, the word in the ruling, translated as collar, is “shir,” usually rendered as “song.” If you have ever worked with domesticated farm animals, then you might have learned that they do respond to singing, and can be led by song – I’ve done it to lead sheep.

While the plain meaning of the ruling concerns barnyard animals, a deeper appreciation of the use of “shir,” song, helps us to understand the importance of music and song.

Zephaniah 3:17 says that the Lord will rejoice over us “בְּרִנָּה” “with singing.” Not only does the Lord lead us with song, the melody of His voice, but song causes us to reach out for Him.

Be sure to include song, and singing – especially wordless melodies from the heart – in your day. He will lead you with it, and you will connect to Him more readily by it.

Be well. Shalom.

In II Kings 3, three kings – of Israel, Judea, and Edom – advance to war with Moab. On they way they stop to inquire of the Lord by Elisha, the disciple and successor of Elijah. Elisha, angry at the sin of these three kings, says to Jehoram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel, “What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother!”

At the insistence of Jehoshaphat, Elisha will inquire of the Lord. Yet, he makes an unusual request, “Now, bring me a musician.” As soon as the musician began to play, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he began to prophesy. Why?

Elisha was furious over the idolatrous sin of Jehoram, and in that anger the door of prophesy was closed to him. Anger disrupts and prevents the stillness of heart/mind needed to receive prophecy. Elisha knew that in order to hear the voice of God that he had to let go of his wrath, and open his heart to heaven in order to receive from the still small voice of God.

Music, skillfully played by a prophetic spirit-filled heart, opens the door for the prophetic – true prophetic words. Without melody to attune the worshipper to the worshipful melody of heaven, anger not only clouds prophecy, it distorts reality.

This is why prophecy must be saturated in melody; and why Elisha requested a musician. The music opened Elisha to prophecy, and to speaks words of truth even when in his flesh he despised the actions of Jehoram. Elisha recognized that there is timing for the Lord’s plan, and in our limited view we are unable to fully appreciate all that the Lord is setting in place.

Inspired music will settle the heart, and allow the plan of God to unfold not by our interference, but with our faithful commitment to His will.

Be well. Shalom.