The Bible Top 40
Joshua 1:8
Most all of us grew up in an era when we were surrounded by music. From the oldest of us to the youngest, music has been a major part of our lives, even if we don’t play an instrument or have a good singing voice. Some men sing tenor, some baritone, I sing monotone. Some play the guitar, sax, or base, some play all three, like John Regner – I play the radio.
But regardless of our individual talents, music has been important to us. It all stems from the efforts of Thomas Edison, who in 1888 made the first sound recording. Before long, the recoding industry, along with radio, began to fill our every waking moment with music. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, and the impact of music on that era is legendary. Music has become the soundtrack of our lives.
Most of the time, that is a good thing. Music, especially Christian music, can have a very positive effect on our days. Have you ever had a song that got into you head, and you just couldn’t get it out? It’s kind of funny, you will walk by a person who is humming a tune, and pretty soon, you’re humming it. Which is OK, unless it’s a song that you don’t really like all that much! It seems the more you try to get it out of your head, the more it stays!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could have the Word of God stick in our heads like that music? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have the Bible as the soundtrack to our lives?
Reading the Bible is a good thing – in fact, we have given you a calendar this year that outlines a Bible-reading program to assist you to read through your Bible this year, and I hope that many of you will try to do it each day.
Bible memorization is a good thing. A year ago this week we began a series entitled “The Bible Top 40” verses of Scripture that I believe every Christian should know, be aware of and perhaps memorize. We are concluding that series over the next 4 weeks, and I encourage you to put these last four verses, and as many others as possible to memory.
What I am talking about, however, is not Bible Reading, nor am I going to talk this morning about memorization. Today we are going to look at making the Bible the background music of our days – it is a process called “meditation,” and I believe, and the Bible teaches, that Biblical meditation is the key to a prosperous and successful life.
Our “top 40” verse for today is found in the book of Joshua, the first chapter. Joshua is the 6th book of the Bible, so if you start at the front, and begin to go toward the end, you will start with Genesis, then Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The five books of the Law – then we find this book of Joshua.
You may be familiar with the history of Israel, but let me remind you of when and where this all takes place. Moses has brought the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt (the whole “Ten Commandments” thing). They have come to the edge of the Promised Land, and sent in spies to check out the territory. It has been found to be good ground – excellent for crops, shepherding, with wonderful cities – a land flowing with milk and honey. But the people of Israel were afraid of the people who inhabited the land, and they did not trust God to give them victory, so they wandered for 40 years without a home. Now they are back to the border of the Promised Land – the Jordan River. They are about to pass over the river and take possession of the land – it is a time of great anticipation. There is a whole new opportunity laid before them, and new challenges.
Just before they were to cross over into this new land, Moses died. God had forbidden him from entering the land because he had disobeyed God in the wilderness. So now he is gone, and God has chosen Joshua to be the new leader of the people.
It was a time of new beginnings and opportunities mixed with concerns and unknown challenges. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Joshua. Talk about having big shoes to fill – he had to step in to the vacancy left by none other than Moses – the guy on the mountain, with the ten commandments, who came down after spending 40 days and nights on the mountain with God, and his face shown with a brightness that caused him to have to wear a veil! Now Joshua had to take his place. In verse 2 of chapter one, God says to Joshua, “Now arise, therefore, and go over this Jordan…” He says, in effect, “Let’s get moving, Joshua!”
In a small way, we today are like the people of Israel. We stand poised at the border of a new year of promise and challenge. We can’t see beyond the horizon, we don’t know what lies before us, but in this chapter, God shows us that He goes with us, and He tells us how we can be sure of success.
Let me read God’s promises to Joshua from verses 3-5.
[Read vs. 3-5]
Wouldn’t those be amazing words to go into the new territory
with? To know that nothing will stand
in your way – nothing will overtake you – nothing will be able to keep you from
all that God has for you?!
Wouldn’t you love to be able to go into the New Year with that kind of confidence and assurance? We can! We can share in the promises made here because they are not really any different than the promises that Jesus has made to each of us as His followers.
In Matthew 28, Jesus promised that he would never leave us or forsake us. In I Corinthians 10 we are told that we will never face any temptation that is greater than our ability to bear. In Romans 6 we are told that we are more than conquerors through Christ, and that nothing will be able to separate us from His love. We can go into the uncharted territory of 2003 with the same confidence that Joshua and the people of Israel entered into their new land – but we have the same responsibility along with that same confidence.
All that is outlined for us by God in the preceding verses is impossible unless we follow the commands of verse 8. Let’s take a look at verse 8. They tell us how we can insure that the coming year will be one of victory and success.
[Read vs 8]
The key to the kind of year that we all want is found in that word meditation. The Hebrew word for “meditation” is a word that means literally “to mutter.” We are to be constantly replaying the Word of God over and over in our minds – to be “muttering” it to ourselves. It implies that we should be reflecting on God’s word, and finding ways to apply His word to every area of our lives. And notice that for Joshua this was not optional behavior – God said, “you shall meditate on it day and night.”
It is not enough for us to read the Word of God and then forget about it for the rest of the day. In order for God’s word to take root in our lives we must make it a part of our lives. James 1:22-25 says, “But if you keep looking into God’s perfect law, the law that sets you free, and if you do what it says, and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you in doing it.” One of the best ways to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of the Word is to meditate on it.
The word of God needs to become an obsession for us – the thing that fills our mind’s wonderings. When given a free moment, our thoughts drift there. When faced with quiet hours, or minutes, our minds come back to the word of God.
So how do we do it?
Well, first of all we have to be in it. The first phrase, “This book of the law,” is important. This is where it all begins. Can we read other stuff? Sure, study guides, devotionals, books on growth, even novels can be good, but we must never allow them to take the priority over the Bible itself. I know how tough this is. I love to read a good book, and it’s easy to get buried in a wonderful thick novel – even a Christian one, and neglect “this book of the law.” Discipline yourself to take time each day in the Bible, and don’t allow anything else to take its place, no matter how good it may seem.
Secondly, we are told that this book “shall not depart out of your mouth.” In dieting circles, it has been said that, “what goes in through the lips winds up on the hips.” What goes into our mouth makes an impact on our physic. And in the Spiritual realm, what comes out of our lips makes an impact too, on those around us. Our responsibility here is to be speaking and teaching the word of God to those around us. We need to be filling the air world us with a Biblical point of view. Why is this a part of meditating? Because one of the best ways to learn something is to teach something. Ask a Sunday school or Bible study teacher when the learned the most, and they will most likely tell you it was when they were preparing to teach. Even in business we are told that simply showing someone how to do a task isn’t enough, we need to teach a person and seal that teaching by having them teach the task to someone else. The same is true here – the Bible needs to be on our lips, we need to be speaking its truth to our children, our families, our friends and our co-workers – not preaching, simply bringing a Biblical point of reference into the discussion.
Thirdly, we read, “you shall meditate on it day and night.” This is really the heart of the matter. We need to be diligently studying the word of God. We need to be reading it, and pondering it, and replaying it over in our minds until it makes a difference, until it becomes a part of us like a familiar old song. I saw it last week when I was home with my parents. On two different occasions I saw my dad quote scripture, chapter and verse in two completely different conversations. I was familiar with the verses, I could have probably found them eventually, but he had them - right there. And it’s not just silver haired people who have been believers for 30 years who have that ability. I have been amazed at times to sit and talk with Dino Calarco (and I know he’s going to be embarrassed by this), and listen as he just shared verse after verse from his private study times – and it’s just been maybe 4 or 5 years since Dino came to Christ.
Any one of us, from the youngest to the oldest believer, with amazing recall abilities or lousy memories, can make this happen – by doing the deed – studying. It takes work, it takes discipline, but it pays huge dividends. Make this the year you get into the word like you’ve never done before. Read it, study it, ponder it, share what you’ve read, ask questions, discuss it – live it.
The results of this type of lifestyle are revealed in the last phrases of our verse. “So that you may observe 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.”
How can we obey something we don’t know? How can we do all that is written in this book if we don’t KNOW what is written in this book? As we study it, and ponder it and apply it, we will gain the wonderful benefit of being equipped and able to obey it. And that obedient life, grounded in the word of God will be prosperous and successful.
Does that mean that God promises every person who studies and applies the scripture will have a Mercedes C-class sedan, or a million dollar home? No – the prosperity spoken of here is not necessarily material wealth, no matter what some heretical TV preacher tells you – the only person getting rich off that “prosperity gospel” are the TV preachers. The prosperity God is promising Joshua is primarily a Spiritual blessing. It takes me back to the very first verse we did in our study of the Bible Top 40, a year ago this week. It was Psalm 1:1-3
1 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; 2 But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 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.
The prosperity and success of a child of God is not measured by bank accounts or possessions. It is prosperity of the soul. It is a wealth in knowing God’s direction and care. It is a wisdom that comes from knowing the heart of God. Sometimes that may manifest itself in earthly prosperity as well, but not necessarily. Jesus certainly knew the heart of God, and he had to borrow a coin from a bystander to make a point about money!
A prosperous and successful life is not found in having things, but in knowing God. Most likely you saw all or part of the movie It’s A Wonderful Life over the Christmas season. At the end of the movie, George Banks brother toasts him as “the richest man in town!” Why? Because he had friends. The whole point of the film is that real riches are not found in possessions but in family and friends. A good and noble thought, but in fact, it misses the mark. A life with friends and a family can still be bankrupt with God. The richest person in town is one who knows the Lord, and experiences His presence in a daily, moment-by-moment walk with Him. The words of God are the tune that makes up the background music of his life. He is truly the riches man in town.
Let’s set out into the promised land of 2003 under the leadership of God Himself, with His word ringing in our ears. “Now therefore, arise and go!” Let’s rise up and go into the new year in the power of God. Let’s put these words into action in our lives – let’s commit to read, study, speak and meditate on the Word of God throughout this year, and watch it produce an amazing prosperity in our lives.