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
Oh, this is such a good verse. It summarizes so much of what we’ve seen. Not just in Deuteronomy but all throughout the first five books of the Old Testament. God’s people are about to go into the promised land. This verse summarizes what God’s Word does in our lives and why it is necessary for us in order to experience life. “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.”
Joshua 1:8 encourages us to soak in and apply Scripture daily.
Just think about what that would look like in your life for God’s Word to not depart from your mouth. Think about it. That means it’s on your mind all the time. What comes out of your mouth is what’s on your mind. That God’s Word is on your mind all the time because you’re meditating on it day and night. Not just reading it, not just checking off a box. But soaking it in, enjoying it, learning from it. Applying it to your life so that you may be careful to do according to all that’s written in it.
We’ve prayed this in Deuteronomy. Be careful to obey God’s Word. All that is written in it for then… Here’s the promise: you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Do you want that in your life? Do you want success and prosperity? True success, true prosperity? Not worldly definition of these things but what God who made you and loves you and knows what is best for you. What God defines as success and prosperity. Do you want that in your life? Then, meditate on God’s Word day and night. Don’t let it depart from your mind or your mouth, and be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
Oh God, we pray, Joshua 1:8, over each of our lives. God help us to do this, and even as we pray, I think, why would we not do this? And it’s because of our sinful nature. Oh God, we are so prone to fill our minds and our mouths with so many other things in this world to meditate on so many other things day and night.
Joshua 1:8 invites us to experience the joy of living by God’s commands.
God, we pray that your Word would be our meditation, that your Word would be constantly on our minds and our mouths, that you would help us God to be careful today, tomorrow, and each day to do according to all that’s written in it and to experience, oh God, in this true prosperity and good, true, right eternal success.
Oh God, I pray this over every single person who’s listening to this right now. God, that Joshua 1:8 would mark their lives even as I pray this in my own life. And God, we pray that you would help us to lead others to life and your Word around us today as this book doesn’t depart from our mouths. God, help us to speak encouragement from your Word to people around us today. And God, we pray for the spread of your Word and the eternal prosperity and success that are found in it around the world.
Prayer for Bible Translation
Lord, we pray that you bless all those who are working on Bible translation for the thousands of languages yet to have a full copy of the Bible or even just the New Testament. God bless their work, we pray. We pray for the work of illumiNations and all these Bible translation ministries working together. God, we pray that your Word would spread literally to everyone in the world. Lord, we pray for all the radical workers who are spreading your Word in the front lines of some of the hardest-to-reach places in the world. God, we pray, bless them and your church around the world for the spread of your Word to all the world. We pray all this according to your Word in Joshua 1:8, in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
