Week of Devotions (2). Matthew 9.

You're ready for the next step in writing your own devotion. Just to review, I'm going to summarize the first four practices into two steps.

1. Prepare
   a. Set aside time
   b. Pray
2. Select
   a. Read the big passage (noting where you might want to study)
   b. Think and write (context, themes, reason for interest, initial impressions)

The next step I'm going to call meditation. Are you ready to fold your legs up into a knot, and sit silently, trying to empty your mind? Me neither. Biblical meditation is an active process, not passive. It's more of a filling of the mind, instead of an emptying. Donald Whitney defines meditation as "deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer." In Joshua 1:8, we read this guideline from God for Joshua as he assumes responsibility for the children of Israel: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8 NIV). This is not only a great verse on meditation, but a great verse to meditate on.

Here are three quick thoughts on what God says to Joshua:

• Be reciting God's Word, memorizing it, repeating it.
• Be thinking or meditating on God's Word. (This is intimately tied to the first thought, in that the Hebrew word translated as meditate, is more like mumble under your breath.)
• Obey God's Word.

In other words, the process of keeping what you read in the Book of the Law on your mind and on your lips, is intended to lead to obedience -- careful obedience because you do know the Word.

So, how do you do this? Here are some tips that may help. As always, write down what surfaces to the top in this process. My devotional study from Matthew 9 is from verses 9-13, which is the calling of Matthew.

1. Put yourself in the scene. How would I feel if I was Matthew? Or one of the outsiders? Or one of those invited to the banquet after Matthew heeds Jesus' call? What might that banquet have looked like? How would Matthew's relationship to the world change? What did Peter, John, and the others think about adding a tax collector to the group?
   
2. Repeat the verse(s), emphasizing different words. In this passage, the particular verse I'm concentrating on is verse 9, and the second sentence, which reads: "'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." Here are a instances of changing the emphasis. Notice how the meaning shifts subtly with the change in emphasis.
   "'Follow me,' he told him ...
   "'Follow me,' he told him ...
   "'Follow me,' he told him ...
   "'Follow me,' he told him ...
   
3. Rewrite the passage in your own words.
4. Pray through the text. This is very straightforward to do, and involves taking the text and personalizing it. Two ways to personalize it are to name names (especially yours), and to apply it to your life. For verse 9, I might pray, "Jesus you called Matthew to follow you, and he did, right then. You called me, Jim, too, and I have. But not always, and not always well. Help me today to clearly hear your voice in every situation I'm in today. Let the call to follow you sound loudly and distinctly, and help me to know how to best follow you, and then to do it. As Matthew did, let me get up and follow."
5. Look for applications of the text. This is the goal of any Bible study, but especially a devotional study. Be sure to write one or two of these down, because this will lead to the next step, which we'll cover tomorrow. Here are nine questions from Howard Hendricks that you can ask and then answer from the text that help in finding ways to apply the passage to your life. In a short, devotional study like this, you can quit after finding a couple of applications, unless you're inspired to spend more time as result of your reading.
1. Is there an example to follow?
2. Is there a sin to avoid?
3. Is there a promise to claim?
4. Is there a prayer to repeat?
5. Is there a command to obey?
6. Is there a condition to meet?
7. Is there a verse to memorize?
8. Is there an error to mark?
9. Is there a challenge to face?
   

At the end of my passage for the day, Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus finishes His teaching about what it means to be His disciple, that is to follow Him. For my meditation time, I could easily write down this command to follow: "go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'" And then I might note that verse 13 would be a good one to memorize.

Collecting my thoughts thus far, and polishing them a little bit, I write this.

Among other ideas, Matthew 9 is about the kind of faith that Jesus taught we should have, and the consequences of that faith. God wants us to have a trusting faith, remembering that He's in control, and can take care of anything, including disease and death. Jesus is the embodiment and perfect example of that faith, which expresses itself in love and mercy. The new way to demonstrate our faith in God, is to follow Jesus, like Matthew did. He desires an immediate and unqualified response, which affects the way we live and the way we think about life. The old way included rules to follow. The new way is to follow Him.

More tomorrow.