It’s a safe conclusion that most everyone wants to be successful. And each person has their own ideas on how to achieve the success that they seek. Did you know that God is also interested in your success, and that He wants to actively cause you to succeed in every area of life?
When God prospers us, our success is assured and undeniable. So today we will be studying the key to unlocking this divine success from God in our lives.
Proverbs 10:22 is a very interesting verse of scripture, let’s read it together:
“The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.”
What this shows us is that there is a type of riches that has sorrow. We see it quite often with wealthy people who have many material things, but they are miserable and most pitiable on the inside.
No outside thing or person can ever truly make someone happy if they are apart from Jesus. We see here in this verse that it is the blessing of the LORD that makes us rich and with these riches there are no sorrows along with them. This is good success and true divine prosperity, both in this life and in the life to come in Heaven. These are not all spiritual blessings but here on this earth as well.
Our main text today is going to be a fairly well-quoted bit of scripture, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing else to learn from it. So let’s begin by reading Joshua 1:8-9:
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be you dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Although this verse is often recited and spoken of, it is surprising how much it is misquoted. So let’s break these two verses down and analyze them in detail.
We know from the previous verses that God is the one speaking to Joshua right now. This is made clear in the very first verse of the chapter. So what is God saying here? He says “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth…”
Now there are several things about this statement worth noting. Notice that God says This book of the law. This tells us that Joshua was not just laying on his back or sitting idle in his chair and gazing into space, but Joshua was actively reading when God spoke to Him. Furthermore, what book was Joshua reading? It says that it was the book of the law, which in the original Hebrew text is the word torah, which is either the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) or the Pentateuch (The first five books of the Old Testament)… either way we can know from this that Joshua was reading the Scriptures and not just some random book. Take note of this, when you read your Bible, God has a channel to speak, the Bible is an open door to hearing God. And when we are attentive to His Word, His Word is able to reach us.
Continuing now to the next part of the verse we see that God says that this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. It’s interesting that God says mouth and not merely mind. There are a lot of people who think about the Bible, but when they speak, they speak death and not life. Why is this? Because for the words and promises of God to truly be effectual in your life, they must be more than mere memorization or trivia knowledge. The words and promises of God must be more than a mental assent, they must be the first and final authority in the life of a believer, more than our own knowledge and more than our own senses, perceptions, circumstances or feelings. When this happens, our natural response will be the promises of God and His truth instead of what we see, hear, feel or think. In short, they will be personal, and they will be natural; part of our new nature and identity in Christ. This is truly what it means to make God your Lord and leader. It’s not a master/slave relationship, but a divine union where your nature fuses with His because you are in Christ, He is in you, and you live His truth.
In the next part of verse 8, God tells Joshua that he shall meditate on it day and night. I have spoken with people who are taken aback when they see this. They usually say things such as:
“You mean I need to bury myself in the Bible all the time?! I’ll never have a life!”
This line of reasoning is quite common, and it’s also quite incorrect. The main problem with this is not even the time required, but it is the underlying perception of it all. This is something that I have mentioned before but it needs repeating, that I used to be someone who saw reading the Bible as a chore that needed to be done (such as taking out the trash), and this is also how many people I have spoken with still see the Bible today. The sad truth is that for many people, reading the Bible simply is not an enjoyable activity. But the reason why it is not enjoyable is because they read with wrong motives and intent. Today we do not read to learn or study the Law of Moses, but we read the Bible to see Jesus and to receive from Him. This shift in intent is what changes the Bible from a chore to the best thing that we could ever have. This shift in perception moves the Bible from something dull and boring to something truly exciting and refreshing. We can replace the word “Law” with “Jesus” precisely because of Romans 10:4, which states that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all that believe on Him.
So today we can think of it this way, if we truly love Jesus, spending time with Him will not be a chore at all, but an enjoyable activity. However if we find ourselves always wanting to do something else other than spend time with God, that points to a serious issue in our relationship with God – just as when a husband and wife always prefer the company of others rather than each-other.
Now the word “meditate” that we find in verse 8, is not the kind of meditating that we generally think of today where one sits on the floor and practices deep breathing. Instead it is the Hebrew word hagah, which means “to mutter under your breath” – so again we have the implication of speaking. The Word of God should always be on our tongue, we should actively meditate on it, and if all of the things that we have been seeing so far in this study are true in our lives then it will be something that we actually want to do and not something that we have to do.
Next we see in verse 8 that God tells Joshua that the result of all of his active meditation on the Word is that he may observe to do according to all that is written therein. Being enlightened by the wisdom of the Words of God is absolutely meaningless if we don’t submit ourselves to what God is showing and teaching us. Just like it does no good to be able to see and read road-signs if we do not obey them. God gives us His advice and leading as a gift because He loves us and cares for us, and for us not to take advantage of His Divine leading and guidance is just utter foolishness. And notice the next part of the verse… then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. It is when we finally recognize God as the true Lord of our lives and stop following others and stop following ourselves that God is able to lead us into prosperity and success like He wants to. My friends, there are some people who live their entire lives and never see this truth. Their entire life is hardship and pain and they struggle and they work to consume all that they have following their own desires and passions. But you and I here today we have seen this truth. The leading of God is a blessing for us. Because He is the one who leads us to the way of prosperity and success.
Take a look at verse 9 now. Notice that after we have honestly made God the leader and Lord of our life, all fear and weakness is abolished and done away with. Gone also is doubt and despair. Why? Because now God is going with us. Before, He was walking a path and we stray away from Him, but now we are following His direct path to the promised land and we have all the security and safety of Him going before (in-front of) us, and also all the benefits of Him walking with (beside / arm-in-arm) us.
This is what God has wanted for us from the very beginning, but it is our choice to accept or reject it. My dear friends, I encourage you today to accept His gracious gift of salvation and leadership. Commit your self to Him, and He will cause you to have good success in every area of your life.
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