Question description

Joshua 1:8

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

I was reading about Joshua who at the time lived under the old covenant, and God instructed him to "meditate on His laws day and night then he will be prosperous and successful" It struck me,

1. How should we, who live under the new covenant, benefit from this scripture? Joshua only had the law to meditate upon because the New Testament had not been written yet. So, what is the new covenant way to be blessed and to experience great success?
2. What exactly does it mean to “meditate”? Is it referring to a mental exercise where one sits and just keeps visualizing the same words over and over?

Thank you in advance.

Answer description

Let's answer your second question about meditation, first. The Biblical understanding of "meditate" is just as you supposed. It is taking time to go over a verse and it's words again. And in doing so the Spirit takes you deeper and deeper into God's meaning and intent.

Now, as to the verse. We will look at the context first. In this scenario, the Word is being spoken directly to Joshua. He and Moses had been chosen by God to have direct communication with the Almighty. However, the remainder of the congregation of Israel did not have that privilege and had to rely on whatever teachings the leaders and priests were led to give them.

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies to pray for the people as they could not do themselves. However, as the New Covenant began and Jesus declared "salvation was finished" the veil into the Most Holy Place was torn in two signifying that all believers now had direct access to God. So at this point, your verse would become applicable to all believers. Thus we need to look no further for God's instruction.

Now, we will look at the verse (Joshua 1:8) itself. We know God does not change. So if He makes a promise, that promise does not change. Thus this verse (promise) remains for us today. But we must be VERY careful where we place our focus. This is an "if-then" promise. If we do as God requires, then the promise is fulfilled. We run into trouble when our focus drifts to the "then" clause as more important than the "if clause". In other words, if blessings and success become our goal then we are not following God's instruction. We let our eyes drift to the gift rather than the giver. The other aspect of this is that we have no idea what God's thinking is concerning "prosperity and success". God deals with every one of His children in a way that is unique to them. So our concept of "blessing" may be far different from what God intends. We think of money and success, when God may be thinking of teaching and saving souls on the mission field. Thus we must trust God's purpose instead of our desires.

So if we go back to the verse, our concern should not be on how God might bless us, it should be on "mediating on His laws (or wisdom)" and simply trusting in how God might go about prospering us. His plan is perfect and He has promised us that "all things work together for good" (Rom 8:28). So in this age, when we are privileged to have direct access to the Father, our purpose is to glorify Him. If we are faithful in this, His provision will come to us in abundance.

So keep your eyes on God and not concern yourself with the prize. That is trust.

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