Making the Word Work For You (iii)
Meditate on the Word (11/12/2019)
By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo
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.”(KJV)
Joshua was just taking over leadership from Moses. He had an enormous task to deliver the Israelites to the promised land. Among the instructions God gave him for the success of his mission, was to stick to the law, God’s word to them. His success in the assignment was hinged on his careful observance and commitment to God’s word. Three things he was to do with the law: not let it depart from his mouth (speak the word), meditate on it day and night, and to do what it says (obey it). Then prosperity and good success would follow. We focus on meditation for now.
Meditation is a process of taking deep reflective thought, understanding and allowing the word to sink in and become part of you. It’s closest anology is the digestive process of food. Eating, enjoying and filling one’s stomach is the first step. The body then further breaks down the food into much smaller particles, extracts the nutrients therein which get into the body system to actually nourish it. The wastes are eliminated. That’s what meditation does to our spiritual lives. It makes the word we took in through listening, reading or study to be part of our system and we are nourished. That is what actually makes us grow in the Lord, be transformed and yield visible fruit.
Beyond the nice sweet word you hear or read, the shouts of excitement as the word comes forth, is another deliberate act of meditation. Without it, the word simply passes by and is soon forgotten. Let the word you heard replay in your mind the same way a cow chews the curd to refine the food it hurriedly ate. Interrogate it. Think over it. Fit your situation and life into it. Allow it to search, challenge, correct, guide, rebuke, encourage or comfort you. Before you know, it has become part of your whole life system which naturally comes out in what you think, speak, decide or do. Then everyone shall see a healthy fruitful strong Christian in word and deed, manifesting the God nature. This is God’s plan for each one of us.
Psalms 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
Shalom children of God.