(A repost from April 6, 2011)
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8, KJV)
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. The key to success and prosperity is obedience to do everything written in His Word. But, as Janet Pope writes in her awesome book “His Word in My Heart,” there were two things Joshua had to do to ensure obedience.
1) God’s Law should always be in Joshua’s mouth.
2) Joshua should meditate on God’s Law day and night.
God’s law must be on our lips, not on the coffee table!
In addition, Pope writes that: “The outcome of Joshua’s obedience to His Word would be prosperity and success. In today’s culture, prosperity and success equals power and material wealth. But this was not what God was referring to when He spoke to Joshua. The Hebrew word for prosperous indicates “to push forward” (Strong’s Concordance #6743).The Hebrew word for success means “to be circumspect, be prudent” (Zodhiates, Complete Word Study: Old Testament entry # 7919). The outcome of Joshua’s obedience was the advancement of God’s program in a careful and circumspect manner. In other words, Joshua would know what to do in a given situation to further God’s agenda. A pattern of obedience makes us wise in our choice of action” (Pope, 94).
With this in mind, we can’t afford to listen to the world or to those entangled in the world. Constantly talking about and meditating on His Word day and night helps us obey.
So, if God tells us to meditate on His Word, what does it mean to meditate? Our common understanding of meditation involves thinking deeply about something, pondering or contemplating something.
But we have to mine the riches of the Old Testament for an accurate definition. The Hebrew word for meditation is “haghah”. It means to “mumur, mutter, growl, sigh,moan, roar, meditate, muse, speak, whisper.” (Zodhiates, Complete Word Study Old Testament entry # 1897). Meditation involves making vocal utterances, speaking words quietly to yourself.
Thus the importance of memorizing scripture and reviewing the verses you’ve memorized by constant verbal repitition.
Cool stuff huh? When I heard that true prosperity and success means advancing God’s program in a prudent and circumspect manner, it changed my way of thinking. I started turning to His Word to sees His view of things. Today, I’m on a journey of renewing my mind so that I will “push forward prudently and circumspectly” to advance His agenda – not mine.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8, KJV)
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