I started classes just over a week ago now, and things have been flowing along quiet smoothly. One of my favorite classes is my studying and teaching the Bible class, which basically instills us with the proper methods by which to study the Bible and get the most out of it. This past week I decided to put into practice some of what I have learned so far, and study a verse in Joshua. God opened my eyes immensely to how much His word contains and what we can learn from the smallest details within each passage of scripture! I wanted to share some of the insight I gained while studying this one passage, and I hope that it will encourage you in your walk with God in some way. If nothing else I hope it motivates you to dive in deep and really focus on all God’s word has to offer us.
Joshua 1:8 “Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
To start off, lets look at the context of this verse. This verse is one part of a written account of the commands and encouragement that God gives Joshua in order that he may better lead the Israelites. Now if we stop and put ourselves in Joshua’s shoes for a second, we can really begin to appreciate these verses a little more. Here was a grown man, who had traveled with the Israelites and followed under Moses for a number of years, and all of a sudden he is in charge of all these people! Moses is dead and everyone is looking to him for God’s will and direction. That is a lot of pressure on one guy! But God takes this time to strengthen Joshua and assure him that He will be with him through everything.
Now lets break apart the text a little bit. We can easily tear this passage up into 4 easy to understand sections.
1. “Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth….” So what is God saying here? This section tells Joshua what he should not do. God simply says, don’t forget about my laws and my commands! In the NIV text it uses the word depart, and if we look at what the word depart means, it doesn’t simply mean getting up and totally leaving, but rather it can mean simply to wander away from a direct course. It could simply be getting distracted by the world, or by our own desires and allowing God’s law to become secondary, and God instructs him not to do that.
2. “…but meditate on it day and night…” Ok, so Joshua knows what he shouldn’t do, and now God tells him what he should do! This has to be one of my favorite parts of this passage mainly because of one word, and that is the word “meditate.” Now if I were to ask you what meditate meant, what is the first thought that pops into your mind? Most of the time we think of the people sitting cross-legged on those weird mats and making that annoying ummmmmmmm sound. Or we simply think of a study of something in particular. While these maybe partly true, the real definition of meditation has two parts to it. The first part is the study element. It is taking a bit of information and in depth studying it. Pulling every bit of information we can from the main source and occasionally from other sources and opinions, until we feel satisfied with the amount of knowledge gained from the section. The second part to the word is to chew over or reflect deeply on a subject. In other words, it is taking what we have studied and thinking about it over and over again. If we put this into the context of the verse we see that that is how God commands Joshua to go about keeping the law. That doesn’t mean he can simply go sit in his tent and study the law and then go about his life as usual. It means that after the study has taken place, he has needs to think about it and process it through out the day. God tells him to do this both day and night. Which means that it needed to be a constant thing. He needed to be thinking through the law and what it said all the time.
3. …”so that you may be careful to do everything that is written in it…” In this third section, God informs Joshua why he needs to meditate on the word day and night. So he doesn’t just tell him to study it and leave him hanging, he gives him a reason for doing it. That reason is simply so that he can do everything that is written in it. Now step back for a second and think about this. If you received something brand new that you didn’t know how to use, you didn’t know the guidelines or boundaries for whatever it is you got, what is the first thing you are going to do? Most likely, you will (or should) read the instruction manual for that product. Often times we will try to figure it out on our own or just skim the manual and not read it in its entirety, and occasionally that works. But more times than not, what happens? You usually miss something or forget to do a step and you end up having to start all over again. The same principle applies to the scriptures and laws that God has given us. We so often just skim the surface of the scriptures so that we can say that we went through the motions, but we miss the deep drastic parts that can be communicated to us through that text. We don’t understand everything in it; therefore we can’t do everything written in it! It’s a chain reaction that never leaves us filled like we need.
4. “Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The last part of this verse God tells Joshua what will happen if he does everything spelled out in the last three points. If he takes the proper steps, doesn’t forget the law, meditates on it day and night, and pays attention so that he can follow everything in the law, then God is going to take care of him. He will be prosperous and successful. Now that probably didn’t mean he was rich. That probably didn’t mean that he ended up getting the best land. But rather, he was successful in the eyes of the one in which it counts. That his treasure would be where it is not destroyed, but rather lasted for eternity (Matt 6:19-21).
So how can we apply the principles told to Joshua, to our own lives? How can we put ourselves in his place and really put into practice what God is saying here? The first step is realizing that as God’s children, our job here on earth is to make disciples of many nations and teaching them all that God has commanded in his word (Matthew 28:19-20). In other words, God has put us in charge! We are the leaders of his people. And if we are to be leading his people and to be modeling Christ in our ways, how are we going to do that unless we know the rules? How are we going to do that unless we can follow EVERYTHING in the law? God has given us a job, and it is up to us to take the time to meditate on his word. To get everything out of it that we possibly can, and to act upon that knowledge. So next time you open God’s book of rules, don’t just read it to say you read. Don’t half way read a passage and think you know what it is trying to say. Dive deep and get all you can out of it. Take small bites and enjoy them to all they are worth. And then live them out everyday that God blesses you with. Our time here is short. Don’t neglect it.
In Christ,
Matt Spangler
