3.139 Thou Shalt Have Good Success

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

What's your favorite verse of scripture or perhaps your favorite song chorus to listen to when seeking to have the Spirit in your life? Did you know it may have greater consequence than you thought? We are continuing our reading inside of the Book of Joshua here, and we don't have to go very far from yesterday's verse.

In fact, we're going to be right on the next door neighbor of it as we dive into this one. I am so glad that we're back in the storytelling part of the Old Testament, but we need to make sure that we remember the stories that are going to be told. Here in Joshua 1, the Lord is not just going to prepare the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land, which he has promised them for 40 years, but he also going to prepare Joshua to be the leader to do that.

Now, we talked yesterday about that transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua and the weight that that must have been on him. But something that's vitally important to remember also is that these first five Books of Moses that we've just gone through in the Old Testament, they establish the beginnings, the creation, the flood, the Exodus, the Law. And now what the Old Testament is going to do is take stories and tell those again and again.

And we're going to have the same level of miracle of crossing the Red Sea with Joshua as they cross the River Jordan. But the Lord's got to make sure that his people are ready to do that. And our verse for today is going to help us inside of that readiness and the desire to bring success in it.

Our verse for today is Joshua 1:8. It's an interesting perspective shift here. "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." Now, there are a lot of "and thens" inside of there, and I want you to make sure that you take time to look at the "and thens" because that's basically setting up the dominoes of "you do this and then you do this and then you do this." But the word I wanted to focus on is meditate.

Typically, we consider meditation to be a form of just. But I wanted to better understand this and make sure that that's what it's saying. And as I looked into the different translations in the Hebrew translation, meditate here is more like a verbal recitation.

It's more like repeating something out loud. And what it got me thinking about was when we are singing along to our favorite songs or perhaps when we're memorizing our favorite scripture verses and we're saying them out loud. This is so cool because for me, I see this in the personal growth world being defined as personal affirmations where you say these positive statements to yourself every day to bring a positive mindset into what you're going to go do.

Here, the Lord is saying that's actually a real thing. What should those meditations be upon? The law, the word, the Book of the Law—everything that Moses has just established inside of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Those things: meditate, recite them. And then you do that. Those are going to help you obey the Law, right?

It's going to help you observe to do that. And then as you're observing to do that, you're going to make the way prosperous. And ultimately, as the way becomes prosperous, you're going to have good success.

This is literally the recipe for crossing the rivers and the Red Seas of our lives. My friends, pick your favorite scripture verses and recite them. Pick your favorite songs that bring the Spirit.

Know them. Let them cross your lips. Say it out loud.

Share it with friends and family. Make your way prosperous, then shalt thou have good success. I love the Book of Joshua.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.