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Greetings,
As leaders we must commit our lives to being an example in leading others in becoming a testimony of God’s word of life in and to our world. The foundation of the New Testament church was set by men who gave their lives to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). They gave their lives to a face-to-face relationship with God and an understanding of God’s word in the ministry of Christ. They were sent to be givers of life to empower others to be givers of life to their world. This included a lifestyle of meditating upon God’s word.
What does it mean to meditate on God’s word? God told Joshua that the book of the Torah (the Law) was not to depart from his mouth, but he was to meditate in it day and night, that he would be able to observe to do all that was written in it (Josh. 1:8). His meditation upon the words of the Torah would make his way prosperous and give him good success as a leader of God’s people. It was not the words of the Torah that would bring blessing to Joshua. It was knowing the heart of God and walking in the ways of God. The Torah was merely a witness of who God is. Joshua had to make God’s way the vision of his heart and mind.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says that the law was only a shadow of the good things that would come to us in the New Covenant testimony of Christ (Heb. 10:1). The life-giving covenant found in Christ causes our hearts and minds to become the parchment of God’s law. God’s law is not a set of rules and regulations. It is the character, nature, way, power, and authority of our heavenly Father written on our hearts and minds by being a dwelling place of God’s Spirit. Being a temple of Holy Spirit grants us the power of receiving regenerated hearts and renewed minds in Christ. God’s law is the testimony of God’s love infused into our lives that transforms our way of thinking and our way of doing things in life. We become life-givers even as our heavenly Father is a giver of life in all things. Whereas Joshua was to meditate upon the law of the Torah, we are to meditate upon God’s words of life from within our hearts that inspires our minds to be renewed in our thinking.
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.
We are to meditate upon God’s word day and night. We cannot study the word day and night. We should read our written word, write down our personal words from God, and commit our lives to hearing, seeing, and walking in all that God says to us. This is a way of life. God doesn’t expect us to quit our jobs and study His word all day long but meditating upon His word should be our way of life at all times and in everything we do. We must embrace a way of life that receives God’s word and then practice responding to His word in thought, in attitude, and in the actions of our lives as we do life in our everyday world.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in 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.
Joshua needed to meditate upon God’s word so that he could see it and do all that it said. He was to observe to do according to all that was written in it. This was a testimony of an Old Covenant that had a glory that was less than the glory we can now find in the New Covenant made living in our hearts. The principle of seeing God’s word is found in the New Covenant reality of Jesus standing in the midst of our lives.
Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
Every revelation from God is an invitation to have an encounter with God, so we will be transformed by God and become something of that revelation. We must first be able to see the word before we can do the word. Meditation causes us to see the word so we can do the word. Th is is not merely seeing the written word. It is seeing Jesus as the living word that makes us a testimony and letter of His word.
God told Joshua to meditate in the word, at the most critical time in his life. Moses had died, and the responsibility of leading Israel over the Jordan and into the promised land was his.He didn’t tell Joshua to read the word. He didn’t tell Joshua to study the word.He told him to meditate upon God’s word so he could see to walk in it. As leaders we must meditate upon God’s general word and His specific word in our lives so we can lead others to do the same. Our lives will be prosperous in God’s purpose and have good success in His purpose when we commit our hearts and minds to all that He says.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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