4 Steps for Deeper Scripture Meditation

In his famous sermon “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” Jonathan Edwards illustrates the distinction between intellectual and experiential knowledge: There is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness.1 Here, Edwards highlights the possibility of knowing something to be true of God (and food) without any affective “sense” of that truth. Our experience regularly confirms this disparity: There’s a long road between the head and the heart. You’ve likely been there before. You carve out time for a devotion, read a passage on the Lord’s majesty or grace—something that you know should thrill your heart—but you don’t feel thrilled. You don’t feel much of anything. Further reflection yields low-level guilt: “Why do I tear up in Toy Story 3 when Andy gives his toys away but struggle to feel something when I read Psalm 23?” To be sure, it’s a mistake to make “experience” the ultimate measure for whether or not our Scripture reading is “working.” And yet, we should acknowledge ...