Wednesday, March 23, 2022

           Pondering is a fascinating activity.  To ponder means “to weigh in one’s mind, to think about or to reflect upon.”  We ponder when we are struggling for an answer.  We ponder when we are bored.  We ponder when we are eager to learn.  Pondering can mean that you have chosen to consider something or to engage something.  Pondering the Lord can be a wonderful thing to do.  We read in Psalm 111:1, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”  The Bible encourages us to ponder God and His extraordinary deeds.  We are to think about God and to reflect upon God.  In fact, the Bible commands us to think about God and to reflect upon God many different times and in many ways.  Worship, prayer and Bible reading are certainly ways that we can keep our minds trained upon God and seeking Him.
            As we have said, God is God.  We will never exhaust all there is to know about God and we will never reach the limits of what we can know.  So, our lives should make a commitment to pondering God and seeking God.  Jeremiah 29:13 encourages us to ponder God.  Jeremiah wrote, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Pondering God is to be a whole-hearted activity.  God makes His ways known and His character known as His people seek Him and reflect upon Him.  Isaiah even made this promise, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).  Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that God is God. 
            We ponder best when we seek silence and solitude.  It is hard to ponder God when all of our senses are stimulated in noisy and crowded environments.  We have to detach, disconnect and decamp from places that are filled with noise and activity.  You might even want to take a fast from the sights and sounds of the world.  Set aside a day or half of a day to be alone, still and quiet before the Lord.  Your heart, mind, body and spirit will likely be blessed and rewarded as you surround yourself with nothing but the Lord and His presence.  Galatians 1 tells us that not long after his conversion to faith in Jesus on the Road to Damascus, Paul withdrew for a while into Arabia.  While we do not know specifically what Paul did, there is reason to believe he went there to ponder the Lord Jesus and to think about the gospel that he would soon proclaim and preach. 
            Mark 1:35 tells us that Jesus Himself separated from His disciples and others to go to a solitary place to pray and simply be with His Father.  Just before the cross, Jesus retreated to Gethsemane to pray about all that was about to transpire.  We do not grow our faith by osmosis.  We cannot roam through life and expect to grow in faith and mature as followers of Jesus without intentionally choosing to do the things that produce growth and maturity.  We will not grow in our knowledge of God unless we choose to know Him in richer, deeper and more enduring ways.  Much like a child eventually moves on from his mother’s milk to more solid foods, we must make that step in the maturing of our faith too.  A sign of maturity is wanting to know the Lord and wanting to step up your walk with Him.  Most successful athletes are always looking for ways to improve and ways to excel in competition.  Faith is no different.  If we are not growing in our faith, we are stagnant or in decline.  Neither place is a good place to be.  Ponder the Lord.  Gaze upon the beauty of the creation He made.  Consider the Word from God you find in the Bible.  Enjoy solitude and silence where you are stepping away from everything and everyone but Him.  Ponder the Lord and be blessed!  Have a great Wednesday!