Joshua 1:8

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

So much of our lives we push ourselves to try and become prosperous and have good success. We work and work trying to keep up with those around us. Often people aren’t happy because they think they have to have this or that to be truly successful and happy.

When I think about learning to live a successful life, I realize that this verse is a very foundational verse for us. The reason I feel this verse is so important is because we do want to prosper and be successful, but it is more important to be prosperous and successful in God’s eyes than in the world’s eyes. In fact when we learn God’s ways of success we will also learn more about being successful in this world as well and in this verse God tells us how to make that happen.

God says that His word should not depart from our mouth. His word should be our first answer and our final answer. His law and Word should be in our mouth and we should be meditating on it. We should be studying scripture, reading scripture, and speaking scripture out of our mouths. The Hebrew word for meditate is hagah. It means to murmur, ponder, imagine, mutter, and plot. To meditate on God’s word we are going to take a morsel of the scripture and put it to memory. We will speak it out loud and mutter it under our breath. We will think about the verse and how it applies to our lives. We will even plot ways to put that word into action in our every day lives. When we do this we will be able to “do according to all that is written therein”. We will have the wisdom and knowledge that we can only get from God and His word and that will help us to live our lives in a right way.

Then we have a promise. When we speak and meditate on His word, then we can observe to do His word, then we shall make our way prosperous and have good success. Something I find interesting here is that God says WE will make our way prosperous and have good success. He isn’t going to do it, we do it. He has already given us the tools in His word, but we are responsible to take the tools and apply them in our lives. So many times people want to live and do whatever they want and then when they get in trouble they want God just to fix it. That isn't how God designed it to work. He has given us the resources, but we have to cooperate with Him by doing our part. If God hadn't set it up like this and we could do whatever we wanted all the time and then just pray to God and get Him to immediately fix everything, we would treat God like a genii in a lamp. We would just get to the place where he is our servant instead of the other way around.

Yes God wants us blessed. He wants us successful and prosperous. He wants good things in our lives, but he doesn't just want to be our errand boy. He wants us to take the steps- to memorize His words, to meditate on them, and then observe to do all that is written in it. He knows that when we do the things he has given us to do that we will be successful in our lives and we will be a blessing to others. When we study His word then we will know we are to love others, and how to love them. We will know things to avoid that will hinder our lives, and we will see ways that we can be a light to those around us.

This week I challenge you to start memorizing God's word. Make a quality decision to put His word in your heart so that you will not sin against Him. Meditate on these words and then do them. I know that as you follow His ways your life will be more successful and you will be prosperous in all you do.