After Moses died, the Lord spoke to Joshua, instructing and encouraging him. The Lord told Joshua that he would be with him. God said that he would not fail or forsake Joshua and that he should be strong and of good courage and observe the law (Joshua 1).

The Lord told him not to depart from the law but to meditate on it day and night. This would bring him success.

Joshua 1:8

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. 

The word here that is translated to mediate is haga. The Strong’s Bible dictionary tells us that it means to moan, growl, utter, mediate, plot, imagine, or speak. This is not what you think when you hear mediate. Our modern concept of meditation is very different, and that is why we need to remember that the idea here is to speak the word, repeat it, and think on it day and night.

I heard someone define the Bible as meditation literature, meaning that it is dense, like a riddle, and will not reveal itself on one reading but will be illuminated as you read it repeatedly and prayerfully. I think this is a good reminder of why we need to meditate and spend time reading, speaking, and thinking about God’s word.

Mediate means that we are to often have the word in our minds and on our lips. We are to speak and think about it repeatedly. The Bible is a work of God, and there is so much treasure in it that He has for us, but we have to want it and prayerfully commit time and effort to find it. That’s why he told Joshua that the law should not depart from his mouth and that he should mediate on it day and night.

So, let’s spend time with Him and in His word.

Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the man^[a]
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law^[b] of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

I want to know, Lord, all that you have for me. Amen.