Meditate on His Word day and night then you shall have good success. Joshua 1:8
Meditate.
There is great challenge in the opening words of Joshua 1:8. Our task is to meditate. In the original Hebrew meditate transliterates as haga which means among many other things, to mutter, to speak, to utter out of the heart, to speak syllable by syllable, to remember.
Meditate with God.
Parts of the defition of haga reference speaking or voicing our thoughts. I used to think meditating was something I did by myself. After reading this definition, I see opportunity to meditate with God
Meditate with God about His Word.
Instead of musing about what others have said, the latest bad news on the nightly news, or a possible bad outcome of a current situation, let’s meditate on God’s Word. What does God promise He will do in His Word?
Meditate with God about His Word day and night.
Night is the greatest challenge for me. God has been teaching me to shut down the vain imaginations and evil forebodings and meditate on what is good, true, pure, lovely, and of good report. Instead of falling asleep to a new release and favorite old movie, I’ve been listening to the New and Old Testaments on my favorite Bible app.
During the day I meditate on God’s Word by carrying my Bible verse index cards with me wherever I go. I can pull them out at traffic stops, lunch time, or break times for a quick meditation.
Meditate on His Word day and night and you shall have good success.
Who doesn’t want to experience good success? I want to hear my Father say, “Well done my good and faithful servant!” How does this happen? By meditating on the Word of GOD. You are the one who chooses what to meditate on. Let’s choose God’s truth so we can have good success. (Are you feeling anything but successful? See this post called Plant a Few Seeds for some encouragement to keep going when you feel stuck.)
See the activities below to begin your meditation journey with God.
Resources;
Week 1 Journal Activities
- This week we will be learning more about the spiritual discipline of Biblical meditation. Here is an excellent article written for the C.S. Lewis Institute by Thomas A. Tarrants III, D.Min, simply entitled Biblical Meditation. Plan on spending about 20 minutes reading this article.
- Now choose a method and begin practicing Biblical meditation. I may try their suggestion at the end of the article to use the same passage of scripture for this whole week to really mine it for its meaning and its application to my life.
- Feel free to share any thoughts/insights/questions in the comments. We’d love to hear what’s on your mind.
Lord Jesus,
I feel keeping my mind on track on Your Word is perhaps my greatest challenge. I have often falsely believed that I am a victim of my thoughts. Thank you for showing me that every thought that comes to my mind does not always originate with me, but I can choose whether or not I will meditate on thoughts. Thank you you have given me everything I need pertaining to life and godliness, and that I have the strength I need to only meditate on Your truths. remind me many times to tend to Your Word in my mind. In Jesus Holy Name. Amen!
Yes, this lesson is such a good reminder of what we let into our minds and what we think about. That has also been my struggle. I love the post we have linked to on meditation. It gives some helpful suggestions on how to meditate on scripture, which keeps our minds healthy.
“I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.” Psalm 145:5
In this verse I see that we are to do two things that will help us in our journey with God. We are to meditate on who God is and what God does. The glorious splendor of His majesty has to do with God’s holiness, goodness, power and authority. Every knee shall bow in His presence! Help me, Father, to get my eyes off myself and meditate on Your “God-ness”!
Again, God always has treasures in His word for those who will dig in! I thought I knew what the word “works” means. But when I looked it up “works” it comes from the Hebrew word “dabar” it means speech, word, speaking, utterances, saying, words. God’s wondrous works are always connected to His words. So let’s work some wondrous things in our lives by speaking God’s word into our situations and circumstances. Amen!