I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my meditation.
Inward virtues to the truth of the Gospel
1. By obeying the commands of Scripture we learn that these commands really come from God; by trying we make proof; by doing we come to know. Now, how comes this to pass? It happens in several ways.
(1) The Bible tells us to be meek, humble, single-hearted, and teachable. Now, these are qualities of mind necessary for arriving at the truth in any subject, and in religious matters as well as others. On the other hand, impatient, proud, self-confident, obstinate men, are generally wrong in the opinions they form of persons and things. Prejudice and self-conceit blind the eyes and mislead the judgment, whatever be the subject inquired into.
(2) Those who are trained carefully according to the precepts of Scripture gain an elevation, a delicacy, refinement, and sanctity of mind, which is most necessary for judging fairly of the truth of Scripture. The pure in heart shall see God; whereas the proud provoke His anger, and the carnal are His abhorrence.
(3) Those who try to obey God will evidently gain a knowledge of themselves at least; and this is the first and principal step towards knowing God.
2. The Bible, then, seems to say, “God is not a hard master to require belief, without affording grounds for believing; only follow your own sense of right, and you will gain from that very obedience to your Maker, which natural conscience enjoins, a conviction of the truth and power of that Redeemer whom a supernatural message has revealed; do but examine your thoughts and doings; do but attempt what you know to be God’s will, and you will most assuredly be led on into all the truth: you will recognize the force, meaning, and awful graciousness of the Gospel Creed; you will bear witness to the truth of one doctrine, by your own past experience of yourselves; of another, by seeing that it is suited to your necessity; of a third, by finding it fulfilled upon your obeying it. As the prophet says (Malachi 3:10). (J. H. Newman, B. D.)
The intellectual power of revelation -
I. The power of religious knowledge.
II. The inferiority of mere intellectual attainments. The meanest student of Scripture is wiser than the most learned professor of scientific knowledge. He is wiser--
1. Scientifically. Boasted science is all chaff; after all, it comes back to the Scripture.
2. Morally. No system of ethics is perfect but the Scripture system.
3. Practically. No other writers can tell of what is beyond and what is the course to be pursued in relation thereto.
III. The power available, to all. Meditation on God’s testimonies. Meditation includes--
1. Reading. This is the first step.
2. Digesting. Dwelling on, feeding upon, making them part of our intellectual selves.
3. Carrying out in action. The real test of all consists in development and the outward proof of the inward principle. (Homilist.)
The only path to the highest wisdom
I. Meditation on the Divine. It is by meditation alone that men become philosophers and artists; by it they penetrate the veil of phenomena, descry and grasp the eternal principles that govern the universe. By it alone we can get mental nourishment. From the impressions that are made upon us, the observations we make, and the thoughts that flash through us from the works we read. It is the digestive faculty of the soul. As the best food taken into the stomach is not only useless, but injurious to the system if not digested, so the richest information rather encumbers than strengthens the soul if not reflected upon. But the subject of meditation must be Divine in order to reach the highest wisdom. “Thy testimonies.” Meditations upon human history, speculation, or enterprise, will conduct to a certain kind of wisdom, but not to the highest wisdom--the wisdom that cometh from on high.
II. Practising the Divine. “I keep Thy precepts.” it is only as a man translates his ideas into actions that they become part of himself. The greatest ideas of God are comparatively worthless unless embodied in life. In temporal matters the highest philosophy helps on the world just as its theories are reduced to practice. “Genuine work alone,” says Carlyle, “what thou workest faithfully, that is eternal as the Almighty Founder and World Builder Himself.” (Homilist.)