Joshua 1:3 shows God speaking to Joshua about the land:
3 Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given to you, as I promised Moses.
God had ALREADY promised the land to the people of Israel when He spoke to, and though, Moses. But they would not be able to possess it until they obeyed the LORD and put their feet on the land! Then HE would defeat their enemies! The same is true for ANYTHING that God has promised in His Word! HE has already provided it (Ephesians 1:3, Hebrews 8:6, 2 Peter 1:3-4)! HE has already done HIS part, now the responsibility is ours to find out how to appropriate the promises (2 Corinthians 1:20)! He tells us how to begin in verse 8:
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
This is the ONLY time that the word "success" is found in the Bible. It is the word"sakal" and means: to be prudent, to be circumspect, to wisely understand, to have insight, to have comprehension, to cause to consider, to act wisely, to cause to prosper. The Amplified Bible, quoted above, is a very good translation of this verse! When we meditate on the Word of God, the Spirit of God, Who is our Teacher, will show us how to obey the Word in our own individual lives so that we can have the results that God intends for us to have! BE a DOER of the Word that says to meditate, then be a DOER of what the Holy Spirit reveals to you during your meditation. You will find yourself dealing wisely in EVERY area of your life, and prospering because of it!
Psalm 115:1-3 says this:
1 NOT TO us, O LORD, not to us but to Your Name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness, 2 Why should the nations say, Where is now their God? 3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever he pleases.
That is OUR God! He is in Heaven AND living, by God the Holy Spirit, in US! Look at verses 4-8:
4 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 3 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 6 They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; 7 They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither can they make a sound with their throats. 8 They who make idols are like them; so are all who trust in and lean on them.
What does it mean that those who make the idols are like the idols? Have you ever read this in Ezekiel 12:2?
2 Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the house of the rebellious, who have eyes to see and see not, who have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a rebellious house.
Do you remember reading in the Gospels where Jesus says, "He that has ears to hear, LET him hear"? That let is a choice! Those who choose NOT to "hear" what the Word of God is saying are just like the dumb idols who CANNOT hear! They "hear" just the same! DON'T be like a dumb idol by being a DUMB believer! Get into the Word of God and find out what belongs to you as an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus of Nazareth! AMEN!
1 Corinthians 3:1 speaks of something similar:
1 HOWEVER, BRETHREN, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [unable to talk yet!] 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],
How do we grow up to the point where we can feed on something more than the "mere milk" of the Word? We need to be doers of the Word we looked at in Joshua today! We need to meditate on the Word we DO know so that our understanding of it grows more every day. The more we grow up, the more of the deeper things of God we will be able to comprehend and put into practice; just like a natural infant goes from milk or formula to solid foods and then to eating with the rest of the family!
The theme for today's reading is THE WORD! Let's get into the Word of God; and get the Word of God into us! After all, we DO know that His Word IS Truth (John 17:17)! Why would we want to do anything else? AMEN! Here is a fun and so TRUE song by Sara Evans called "The Word":
Shalom in Him!
