UNLOCKING THE RICHES

Several years ago I was working on a teaching from the first chapter of Joshua for some ministry leaders in North Texas. In this teaching that I call “Guidelines for Success,” the first nine verses are God’s instructions to Joshua when he assumed leadership of the children of Israel after the death of Moses. This great passage is filled with very meaningful instructions, not just for leaders but for every believer. God was not merely instructing Joshua on how to lead the nation but He was giving him powerful promises for every part of his life, both public and private.

As I was preparing this teaching, I stopped at verse eight: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8, ESV). 

    

I had always struggled with the first part of this verse—the instruction to not let the Word depart from your mouth and then the tie-in to meditation. For me it had been like hitting an unexpected speed bump and I had not found a fully satisfactory answer. I grasped the meditation part, but why the instruction to keep the Word in our mouth? Meditation is not an act of the mouth, it’s an action of the mind, so how do the two work together?

My study had always focused on the mouth being the primary entrance portal to the body for food, air and water (some of us have very big portals, with other parts of our bodies being the proof) and that would lead one to believe that the instruction was to regularly take in the Word and then meditate on it. That is solid and good instruction but the Holy Spirit showed me something else that wonderfully builds and expands on this.

 

We live in the age of fast food, fast cars, fast Internet, fast banking, fast women (actually, they’ve been around for a long time). Everything is being done at increasing levels of speed. The pace of life is fast, and rarely do we slow down to enjoy much of anything—including church. We are now in the age of fast, prepackaged church services.

In order to enjoy food, you must savor the mouthful that you have taken in. The food’s flavor is unlocked when you chew it and you can really taste and enjoy what you are eating. The word savor means “to have the experience of.” The whole concept behind fast food is that we are in a hurry so let’s eat quickly and continue on with our rushed lifestyle. The driving principle of fast food is not savoring but quick consumption—“You need this but it’s not necessary to really enjoy it!”

What hit me as I studied this verse was the need to recognize it as an injunction to not rush our time with the Word. In meditating, as in eating, it is the chewing, the repetitious motion of grinding up a mouthful, that causes the flavor to be released. It’s as we “chew and savor” the Word that we begin to understand more fully what the Author intended. To savor the Word, we need to take the time to let the riches begin to unlock . . . and that cannot be done in haste. We need to “stop and smell the roses.”

For a follower of Jesus, meditation is not the mindless repetition of a sentence or a verse. Christian meditation is the prayerful repetition of a verse or passage. It’s prayerful because you are asking God to unlock the riches contained in that particular passage.

(A warning here! If you think you have found all the flavor in a Scripture, that’s the first sign that you haven’t. We are to savor the Word with the understanding that we will never completely unlock all the taste and essence in a particular passage.)

There are a lot of practical ways to learn to savor the Word of God. One is to memorize passages . . . long or short . . . and then call them back to mind. Another method is to read and reread passages that have been ministering to you, that you have been drawn to. Still another is to put special passages on a card that you can carry in your pocket or post on the edge of your computer screen. In any case, you can refer to them regularly, chew on them a bit, and continue to let the riches unlock.

                “The unfolding [opening up] of Your words gives light;

            it imparts understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130).

The riches of God’s Word are available to all of us. The success that He promised to Joshua can also be ours! Take the time and let the flavor/riches unlock in your heart and spirit.