“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)
When I was growing up, my grandmother would always tell me to slow down when I was eating and chew my food. She never told me the reason for this, except that she did not want me to choke on it. Yet I think she understood that it was important from a nutritional standpoint.
Nutritional health experts give us several benefits of chewing our food properly.
Chewing your food thoroughly allows you to absorb more nutrients from your food, helps you maintain a healthy weight, allows for easier digestion, and leads to fewer digestive issues.
As chewing our physical food allows for better absorption of the nutrients for good physical health, so does chewing on our spiritual food the word of God help us in absorbing its spiritual nourishment.
In Joshua 1:8 we have a prescription for properly digesting our spiritual food. The Lord brought this message to Joshua as he was preparing to take the Israelites into the Land of Caanan. The Lord told him this.
“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)
Properly digesting the words of the Law, the Scripture, would be the key to Joshua’s success in the mission the Lord gave him. Here we see three basic and essential steps for properly digesting spiritual food.
First, one must actually partake of the spiritual food. The Lord tells Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth.” In other words, for Joshua needed to partake of the Scriptures. It is quite simple. We cannot digest that which we do not eat. Similarly, people cannot digest spiritual food, the word of God, unless they partake of the words in the Bible. We must read it, and hear it taught and preached.
Second, one must chew on the spiritual food. As we need to take time to chew physical food properly so that we will get the most out of its nutrients, we must take time to chew on our spiritual food to get the most out of it. Here the Lord goes on to tell Joshua to “meditate on it (the law) day and night.” To meditate on the word is to chew on it, thinking about it and what it means and what God is telling us through it. This takes time was we are to prayerfully consider what we read and study in the Bible.
Third, as absolutely vital is responding to the prompting of the word of God. This means being a doer of the word and not just hearers or readers of it. The Lord tells Johsua to “be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Knowledge without corresponding action is fruitless.
As believers we must not let the reading and teaching of the Bible go in one ear and out the other. We must take it in, chew on it, and respond as the Holy Spirit reveals its application in life. This is the key to success in our Christian walk of faith. When we do so, we, like Joshua, “will have good success.”
Renewing the Heart 