Meditation

4. April 2008 by Bernice Davis.

In our memory verse on yesterday  Joshua 1:8 “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. “ 

I want to point out the meaning of a couple of words in this text.   This book of the law can also be translated as “instructions of the law” so a clearer reading could be these instructions of the law or the word of God should be a part of us daily.  

 A key word that I want to focus on is meditate.  The word “meditate” here means to think on something to the point of action.  In other words, it means to focus and concentrate on something so much that it causes one to do something about what they are thinking about. 

We all know how to meditate.  Think about it,  how many of us when someone does or did us wrong in the past, we thought (meditated) on that situation until it caused us to create a reaction in the physical whether it was some type of scheme to get even, etc.   And it doesn’t have to be negative; we may have had some positive experiences where we found ourselves thinking about it to the point that we did something nice for the person that caused the positive experience in our live.   My point simply is that the art of meditation simply means to focus in on something to the point where you respond or react to whatever you are focusing in on. The word meditate comes from a root word which means to moan, growl, plot, speak, roar, growl, muse, and imagine.    So the text requires us to meditate both day and night. 

The next line says “that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:”  so you can see that even from our passage, the reason for meditation is so that we will be able to obey God’s word.  We will be able to react to it, to respond to it with obedience. 

 When you constantly think about God’s word, it starts transforming the mind so that our actions correspond to obedience.   

Now,  look at the ending of the text, “for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.   Oh!!!!!!!!  The power of God’s word.

Meditation and obedience will cause “you” to make your way prosperous.  The word prosperous here means “to advance, to make progress, to “break out mightily”.   

Meditation and obedience of God’s word will cause “you” to “break out mightily” of any situation that you are in.  You have the power right at your fingertips through God’s word. 

And our closing sentence says and you shall have “good” success.   That word good there means perfect or entire, lacking nothing.   This refers to your spiritual and physical prosperity.     Meditation- how powerful.    I encourage you to begin your own meditative journey with God’s word if you haven’t already started.   Our minds are bogged down with so much worry, confusion, problems, hurts, defeat, frustration, etc.,  Let’s start re-shaping it with the “word of God.” 

Make it a great day and don’t forget to read God’s word and pray daily. 

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »