You have heard, perhaps, of background music, or background information, or background interference, but I'd like to suggest a new phrase tonight on the blog: background thinking. Background thinking is what a person thinks about when they are doing something else. I don't know about you, but when I am folding clothes or washing dishes, or, sometimes while I am driving a familiar route, I think about other things than what I am doing. At times, I think about what I should make for dinner, or what I am going to do on the weekend, or perhaps a chore or two that is in the my near future. That is background thinking! So, what is in the back of your mind that you tend to dwell on while you are doing mundane tasks?
Bible teachers tend to dwell on their next Bible lesson. Is that what you think about? Me, too! Occasionally, I will see an unusual box or uniquely textured paper, or perhaps, a brand new box of crayons, and I think about how I could work that particular item into the next Bible lesson. A neighbor owns a donkey near us and it brays now and then, that is when I think of Balaam. I see a cloud about the size of my fist in a clear blue sky and I think of Elijah. When I notice someone's colorful coat or sweater at work, I think of Joseph. I read the newspaper and find that somewhere there was an earthquake, and I think of Korah. Many things in today's world make us think about Old Testament times. That is the way it should be!
We actually should be thinking or meditating on God's Word. The Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy and told him, "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine...Meditate on these things..." (1 Timothy 4:13, 15). That is what we do when we dwell on the scriptures. David said in Psalms 1:1, 2 that blessed is the man who walks in a godly manner. He delights in the law of the LORD, and he meditates in His law both day and night.
A favorite verse of this Bible teacher is found in the book of Psalms, chapter 19, and verse 14, which says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer." May we continue to dwell and meditate on God's Word each and every day of our Bible-teaching journey.
