Learning from the Father of Biblical Meditation

The Book of Psalm is the Bible's hymnbook, a book of praises and prayers. And the person who wrote half of the 150 Psalms was the man named David. Known to many from the "David and Goliath" Bible story, David became Israel's greatest and most beloved king.

The 19th Psalm, whose theme is meditation, was written by David. David's life experiences show us how or why he became the master of meditation. Though many of the prophets, apostles and saints of the Bible were students and practitioners of meditation, I think it is to David that we should award the title "Father of Biblical Meditation".

What are some of the details of life that must have drawn him to meditation?

(a) David was the last of 8 sons born to Jesse, a man from Bethlehem in the tribal land of Judah. David was not seen by his dad as leadership material. That could be why Jesse never brought David to the family gathering when the Prophet Samuel came to town to anoint one of Jesse's sons to be the next king.

=> David might have used mediation to comfort himself as the black sheep of the family.

(b) David was the shepherd of the family's flock. Keeping sheep out there in the fields must have been a lonely and dangerous job, especially for a young boy. David tell of an incident when a bear came after his sheep, and another occasion when the encroaching predator was a hungry lion. Both times the young shepherd put his life on the line and saved his sheep from the teeth of the beasts.

=> Through the discipline of meditation, David was able to overcome the fears associated with his job.

(d) David became a poet, songwriter, harpist and singer. As a young man, he was so good at composing and playing inspired music that King Saul, the first monarch of Israel, hired David to give the king music therapy to relieve Saul's chronic stress and depression (1 Samuel 16:14-23).

=> David used his music as a means for meditation. It was wise of him to meditate through music. Musical meditation is mystical medication for the soul.

(e) Later in life, David, after he was anointed by Samuel, became the target of King Saul's envy, anger and murder plots. For the most part of 20 years, David was on the run, hiding from Saul.

=> During those years of wandering and running for his life, David encouraged his heart and soothed his soul through the art of meditation.

(f) After Saul died, and David became King of Israel, he still had many battles to fight, especially with the Philistines, Israel's mortal enemies for much of David's reign. David had to function as a warrior-king.

=> As a warrior with battle plans to lay out, and as a monarch with administrative duties, David found much wisdom in meditation.

(g) Also, despite all his achievements on the national and global stage, David had a dysfunctional family. Apparently, David was neither a great father nor a wonderful husband. The biggest moral failure of his life was his affair with Uriah's wife. After the adultery, which resulted in pregnancy, King David went on to plot the death of this loyal soldier on the battlefield. The guilt and stain of that double sin of adultery-murder haunted David's conscience for months, if not years.

Furthermore, David witnessed incest among his children. One of his sons raped one of David's daughters. That sister's brother (Absalom) murdered the brother who raped his sister. Eventually, Absalom, David's most handsome and beloved son, plotted a revolt that gain steam. King David was forced to flee the city and hide out in the country. In the process of this coup attempt, the rebellious prince engaged in broad-day sex with his father's women (concubines or half-wives).

=> In and through all of those difficult national and personal situations, the discipline of meditation was probably one of David's most used secret weapons. It was how he got through each day, whether as a boy in his family, as a shepherd in the desert, as a fugitive on the run from King Saul, as the warrior-king of Israel, and as a struggling husband and father.

The life of David, the Father of Meditation, teaches us that the busier you are, the more suited you are for meditation. The more responsibilities you have, the more you need to practice meditation. Meditation can be the most potent tool for a leader's mind. Take it from King David. Meditate.