Meditation for Success

There is something very special about meditating in the word of God that is often overlooked. There are specific blessings that come into the lives of those who will take time to meditate in God’s word.

This passage in Psalm 1 speaks of a man who delights himself in pondering the law of the Lord, or, that is, the word of God. It’s a delight for him to do so, not a chore, not some sort of religious duty, but a delight

Delight Yourself in the Lord

How do we get to the place where the word of God becomes a delight to us?

The only way to fall in love with the word of God is to spend time reading it, and more importantly, by taking time to think about it. We must taste His word before we can develop a taste for it, before it becomes our delight.

Some foods are that way. We don’t particularly like them at first, because they’re new and different, but after we eat them a few times, we often recognize that we like them. But, like one person said, liver is still under the curse.

And so, it says that he delights himself in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

Like a Tree

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. It says he brings forth fruit in his life season after season. It says his leaf shall not wither, or, that is, his vitality remains in him, and it says that whatsoever he does shall prosper and be successful.

Wow! That’s the blessing of the Lord. He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, he brings forth fruit, he has vitality, and whatever he does prospers. That’s why the first verse described this man as blessed. Blessed is the man who meditates in the law of the Lord.

The Law of the Lord

Now, what is the law of the Lord? Well, today we could say that it is the word of God contained in the Bible. But in the day this Psalm was written, it referred to the first five books of the Bible, the Jewish Bible, called the Torah. Since the law of Moses was contained in it, it was simply referred to as the law, or the law of the Lord.

But it also contains more than just the Mosaic law. It contains historical content, it contains the story of creation, it contains information about the development of the nations in the early times, it tells about a great flood that destroyed all life on the earth except for a few people and a boat full of animals. But more than that, it contains the word of God.

It tells of Abraham, the father of our faith, who, at the age of 100 became the father of a child delivered to him by his 91 year old wife, made possible by his faith in a promise given him by the Lord, that, like the stars of heaven, so shall your seed be.

Power in the Word of God

There was enough power in the first five books of the Bible to give prosperity and success to anyone who would meditate in it. God told Joshua to meditate in the law of the Lord, the Torah, so as to have success and to prosper in what he was doing, which was leading Israel into the land of Canaan.

Joshua, the Lord said, you shall be prosperous and have good success as you meditate in this book of the law day and night. Well, if the book of the law, the word of God, would make him prosperous and give him good success, would it do the same thing for us today? Of course, it will.

The Whole Bible

Our scriptures, the books of the Bible we have today, includes the first five books known as the Torah, but it also includes the Psalms, the books of the kings, the books of the prophets, and, of course, the New Testament, the four gospels, and all the subsequent epistles or letters, which are also part of the scriptures.

God-Breathed

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, points out that all scripture was to us given by inspiration of God, or it was divinely inspired. In other words, though it was spoken through men and written down, it was inspired by God Himself. It is not the words of men but of God.

So Shall My Word Be

The Lord speaks about the power of His word in the book of Isaiah.

So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It shall accomplish the purpose I sent it to accomplish. Every word of God recorded in scripture was sent from the Lord to accomplish something. The words of God have within themselves the power to fulfil the thing God sent them into the earth to do. Why? Because they are the words of God Himself.

The Power of the Word Released

When is that power released? It is released when we receive the word of God into our heart, when we sow it into the soil of our heart, when we ponder it, when we meditate upon it, when we keep it in the midst of our heart. When we do that, the word of God, like divine seed, sprouts in the soil of our inner man, our heart, and it grows and produces a harvest in our life.

The seed is the word of God, the soil is the human heart. When the word is planted in our heart, it springs up and grows. We don’t know how, but it does.

And it says “For the earth, the human heart, brings forth of itself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”

Why Meditation Works

This is why meditating in the word of God causes us to make our way prosperous, and puts us in a place of having good success. That’s why the Lord told Joshua to meditate in the book of the law day and night. That’s why the man who meditated in the law of the Lord day and night in Psalm 1 was like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and whatsoever he did prospered.

Take time to meditate in the word of God, take time to ponder it and allow the Holy Spirit to give divine insight into it. The Bible promises success and prosperity to those who will dwell in the word of God until it becomes our delight.