Meditate on God’s Word
Both Psalm 1:1-3 and Joshua 1:8, is a conditional promise we received from God Almighty. The condition is simply based on meditation on God’s Law or Torah as the first five books of the Bible. Jesus however came to fulfill the Law, meaning He came to reveal the full contexts thereof, therefor is we consider the meditation as a condition for the fulfillment of the promise, we must not only meditate in part but as a hole, for Jesus revealed it.
Meditation in the biblical sense is not a silent meditation but a verbal reciting of God’s instructions/direction. As Paul said in Romans 10:17, faith come from hearing God’s Word. Likewise in Proverb’s 18:21 we learn that we will reap the fruit of the words we speak, if we recite the promises of God, we will reap from God’s Word.
Paul explained, we should walk by faith and not by sight indicating that we should renew the way we think about God’s Word and His promises. Jesus message of repentance was based on the condition that the Kingdom of God is at hand, He call on us to let go of the former way of living and embrace the new life, as we consider God’s perfect Word. Jesus taught the same principal at the well with the Samaritan women, Jesus explained that the water He can give for us is sufficient for all aspects of life, and that if we drink of God’s Word we will not thirst, but God’s Word will flow from our mouths, like a fountain of living water. The women left the well without her water pot, but filled with life giving water in her heart.
By meditating on God’s Word through reciting it, we in effect fill up the water inside of us, putting on the new man, by implication leaving the old man just as the women left the water pot. The new life she received made the old of no importance. If we therefore consider Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-3 based on the example of the women at the well, we need to put into practice the new life as we meditate verbally on God’s Word, to enable us to learn God’s ways and put into practice what God requires of us as a new recreated man in Christ Jesus and part of God’s Household.
Jesus said if you love Me you will obey Me, how can we obey if we do not come in agreement with God’s Word. Meditation is also to come in agreement with God’s law/directing/instruction just as the women left the well, not considering her past, as she proclaimed what she learned.This is a process of renewing the mind in the knowledge of Christ Jesus and God our Father based on what Jesus said in John 17:3 that eternal life is to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not something we will one day received, it is the new recreated life, it start the moment you surrender yourself to God through His Son Jesus Christ and last for eternity if you continue in God’s Ways. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God came as the light of the World, and the Word of God that became flesh. Jesus came to show us the way, the truth and the life. He revealed God’s Word in a understandable way so that we can follow Him. We therefore cannot be guided in this new recreated life by feelings or emotion based on what we see or feel. We must be guide by faith in Christ Jesus and the Truth of God’s Word. For this reason we need to be transformed by the Word of God in order to see the way God see things and not according to the world. We should not see ourself any more in the way people or the world see us but need to consider the new creation and how God see us through His Son Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 challenge us as believers in Jesus Christ, to present ourself as a holy sacrifice and well pleasing to God, not being conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our mind. This renewing take place as we meditate on God’s perfect Word, allowing Jesus to wash us through His Word to perfection. Jesus is our example and not the world, therefore when we speak we should speak God’s Word for Jesus is the Word that became flesh to show us the way we should give ourself unto God, it is through quoting Jesus and not the world that we can come into God’s perfect will for our lives.
The word transformed speaks of something being changed from one image to another, it is not just a change of cloth, it is to look different in every way. We cannot call ourself transformed if we look as the world, if we talk as the world and if we do as the world.
The enemy however still apply the same tactics as he did in the garden of Eden when he deceived Eve into believing his lies. Even today the Word from Paul in 2 Corinthians directs us to understand that the battle is not physical but spiritual and that the enemy use his lies to deceive us in believing his lies rather than God’s promises and truth of the recreated life in Christ Jesus. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV
Once again what we need to understand that obedience of Christ equals obedience to God’s perfect Word. What Paul is saying, is that we should take every argument that come against the truth of God’s Word and every though that come against the knowledge of God into captivity based on the knowledge of God expressed truth which is God’s Word. Jesus said that the truth will set us free, from the enemy and his lies, and the Truth is God’s Word. As recreated in Christ Jesus and a citizen of Heaven the only directive to guide us as a citizen of Heaven is God’s Word.
James 4:7 state that we should submit to God and His Word, and resist the enemy and his lies. Jesus as our example resist the enemies lies by quoting the Word of God as the truth. If we therefore continue to meditate/speak God’s truth in the face of the enemy and his lies he will flee, in the same manner as with Jesus in the wilderness.
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8 NKJV
Remember, through the work of the cross Jesus obtained the victory over the enemy so that we can be more that overcomer’s in Christ Jesus. However the enemy can still tempt us to adhere to his lies, we have however been empowered by the Spirit of the Living God to withstand the enemies lies, we need to apply our will. Psalm 1:1-3 “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; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” NKJV
Lets consider not walking in the counsel of the ungodly, (for they do not have any sound counsel), nor stand in the path of sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful. All the mentioned is based on activities we are in control of, walking, standing or sitting. So to apply your will is in a cense to apply your love, as mentioned in verse 2, his delight is in the law/instruction/direction of the Lord. Jesus addressed the mentioned when He said “if you love Me you will obey Me”. We as Christians must be motivated by love, for love in the Hebrew contexts speak of obedience, so if we walk in a love relationship with God we will desire to do according to God’s purpose and plan and we will not listen to the enemy who do not know love nor understand love. When Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord” he made it a personal declaration telling everyone to make the choice for themselves as to whether they will serve the Lord or choose to follow after other gods. When we reject God’s Word and listen to others, we effectively choose to serve other gods.