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An excerpt from “Present in Prayer”
When was the last time you slowed down and let yourself just be still?
Can you even remember a time when you set aside all the rushing and going and doing and instead let yourself sit in silence?
How comfortable are you when everything is still and quiet? When all there is is you and your thoughts?
If the answer is not very comfortable, you’re not alone. A 2014 University of Virginia psychological investigation revealed that most people dislike being made to spend even six to 15 minutes alone in a room with nothing to do but think, with many—67 percent of men and 25 percent of women—preferring to give themselves electric shocks rather than sit alone with their thoughts.
It’s not surprising that we are uncomfortable with being still. The world is noisy and fast-paced, and our days packed with schedules full of places to be and things to do. We are so busy, constantly moving and going and doing, and any precious bit of downtime is typically filled with some kind of noise as we disconnect from the world by watching television, scrolling on our phones or playing music. We rarely truly embrace silence. And it shows.
We’ve thrown the blanket of social media over our need for real connection, we’ve covered our deep soul wounds with the bandage of distraction, we’ve hidden the root of our worries and fears beneath layers of feel-good platitudes and trendy self-care products.
According to the 2024 American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll, 43 percent of adults say they feel more anxious now than they did last year, up from 37 percent in 2023 and 32 percent in 2022. People are looking for peace, desperate for relief from the overwhelming stress and anxiety that seems to plague our culture. It’s no wonder meditation has become increasingly popular. After all, it is a practice that is backed by research and has been shown to improve brain health and overall well-being, with benefits that include reducing stress, improving sleep, and decreasing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
In 2018, the CDC coined meditation “the fastest growing health trend.” A National Health Interview Survey revealed that the percentage of adults who practiced meditation more than doubled from 2002 to 2022. And in 2024, those numbers are still rising. There are meditation studios popping up within bustling cities, meditative retreats that offer an escape from the noisy modern world and countless meditation apps that promise peace at our fingertips.
Meditation may seem like a chic trend right now—and yet meditation has been an integral part of the Christian faith for centuries.
What separates Christian meditation from other meditative practices is the focus of our meditation: Christian meditation is focused on the Word of God and is a means of communion with Christ. Meditation is a classical spiritual discipline that is rooted deeply in the Bible and in ancient Christian practice. Throughout Scripture, time and time again, we are directly instructed to meditate on God’s Word—to focus our thoughts on it and to contemplate the Word in way that causes it to sink deep into our hearts and take root in our souls, changing us from the inside out:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it” (Josh. 1:8 ESV).
“Blessed is the one . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Ps. 1:1–2 NIV).
“May the words of my heart and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” ( Ps. 19:14 NLT).
Christian meditation involves an intentional time of silence and stillness, prayer and contemplation, with a focused attention on Scripture. There are many ways you can meditate. It can be as simple as a breath prayer—praying a short phrase from Scripture as you deeply inhale and slowly exhale a few times—or it can follow a framework like lectio divina—an ancient monastic practice that involves a quiet rhythm of silence, reading, praying, meditating and deeply contemplating a small passage of Scripture. Whatever the method, meditation gives us the silent space to quiet the noise around us and within us so we can tune our hearts to really hear his Word and find rest in his presence.
Meditation has been an anchor for me through the hardest of storms, keeping me securely attached to Christ even in the midst of the most challenging circumstances. The truth is, I’ve been weathering a deeply difficult storm for a few years now, and I’ve personally experienced the soul-deep peace that comes from intentional times of stillness with God and meditating on his Word. There have been many moments on my journey when I focused on the struggles and the pain and all the hard things; I felt overwhelmed by circumstances that I never would have chosen, paths I never wanted to walk, and a life story that didn’t go at all the way I had dreamed or planned. The storms of the last few years have often made it difficult for me to focus on God and on his presence with me. He’s felt silent and distant, and my faith has been shaky and unsure. My anxiety and fear was so loud and overwhelming, and the chaos that surrounded me made it hard to see the way through.
But cultivating a rhythm meditation in my days has given me a meaningful way to shift the focus of my thoughts away from ruminating on all that is wrong and turn them toward the One who is holding me through it all. To be clear, meditation didn’t clear away the storms or change my circumstances. The chaos still swirls around me, the hard things are still hard and the path ahead is still unclear. But times of meditation—intentional times of silent focus on God and his Word—give me strength to remain in the storms, helping me to shift the way I respond to the hard things and helping me experience peace in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty.
Whether you’re in the middle of your own personal storm, or you’re just feeling exhausted and worn down from the relentless pace of life, I invite you to give Christian mediation a try. Take a few minutes to slow your pace, quiet the noise, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform your thoughts and renew your mind through the practice of Christian meditation.
Taken from “Present in Prayer: A Guided Invitation to Peace Through Biblical Meditation” (Thomas Nelson, 2024) by Jennifer Tucker. Used with permission.
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