Should I meditate or develop more merit first? Let's hear what Ajahn Chah has to say

When we follow our own views on practice, our own opinions about the Dhamma, we can never see clearly what is right and what is wrong. We don't know our own heart. We don't know ourselves.

Therefore, to practice following your own teachings is the slowest way. To practice following the Dhamma is the direct way. Lazy you practice; diligent you practice. You are aware of time and place. This is called "developing the heart."

If you indulge in following your own views and try to practice accordingly, then you will start thinking and doubting a lot. You think to yourself, "I don't have very much merit. I don't have any luck. I've been practicing meditation for years now and I'm still unenlightened. I still haven't seen the Dhamma." To practice with this kind of attitude can not be called "developing the heart." It is called "developing disaster."

If, at this time, you are like this, if you are a meditator who still doesn't know, who doesn't see, if you haven't renewed yourself yet, it's because you've been practicing wrongly. You haven't been following the Teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha taught like this: "Ananda, practice a lot! Develop your practice constantly! Then all your doubts, all your uncertainties, will vanish." These doubts will never vanish through thinking, nor through theorizing, nor through speculation, nor through discussion. Nor will doubts disappear by not doing anything. All defilements will vanish through developing the heart, through right practice only.

~Ajahn Chah~

Quoted from: Bodhinyana ~ The Training of the Heart http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/chah/bodhinyana.html#training

This is message sent to me by my sis few years ago.
Enjoy.
With Metta