No Peeking

“‘Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’” Psalm 46:10, NASB.

For several weeks several monks have studied the Bible, so I decided it was time to give them some undivided, yet guided, time alone with God. When I arrived at the Buddhist Wat (temple), I informed them that today we were going to practice Christian meditation. They were intrigued.

In order to lay the foundation for this exercise, we looked at Psalm 46. We learned that God is our refuge and always ready to help in times of trouble. What kind of trouble? Earthquakes, tsunamis, unpredictable governments—things with which they are familiar. We saw in Psalm 46 that in the midst of all this turmoil, God speaks and says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In Him there is peace, protection, and no fear. We discussed this at length as they asked some great questions.

Then I asked them to think about this Psalm, as well as all the other stories which they’ve studied from the Bible. I asked them to give me some characteristics of God. They told me that God is our master; He is all-knowing, everlasting, holy, and all-loving. After listing several more attributes on the board, and discussing these traits we began our meditation time.

We began in Psalm 46 by the river that “brings joy to the city of God.” I allowed them a few minutes to close their eyes and clear their minds of all distractions. I then lead them to concentrate on the attributes of God that we listed. I admit that I peaked once to make sure that they were with me; but I never should have doubted a Buddhist monk’s ability to meditate. I then ended by reminding them that they were sitting by the river in the city of God, and if they were willing, they could allow God to speak to them.

When we finished, they were all so excited. They remarked how easy it was, and I encouraged them to practice this type of meditation some more. They said they would. My hope is that God will speak during their meditation times. By now these monks well understand that they cannot continue to follow the teachings of the Buddha and follow Christ.

Pray that:

The knowledge these monks have will now be coupled with a personal experience with Him, so that through “seeing” they might believe.

Spiritual strongholds of tradition and identity will be overcome by the love of God growing in their hearts.

Pacific Rim workers will have wisdom to engage the unreached with different forms, such as Christian “meditation,” to bridge the gap between cultural comfort and spiritual understanding.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.