The detour may be the best way!

Sometimes, driving down the accustomed road isn't possible.  Sometimes, we need to take a detour.

I've decided to start reading the Word out loud every day.  Not sure why I haven't made a practice of this before.  What led me to this "detour" was when I recently looked up the original Hebrew word for meditate from Joshua 1:8.  I was stunned to learn that the original word for meditate actually means to growl, moan, utter, even howl!   Crazy right?!

I mean when I envision meditating on God's Word, it is usually in thought, in quiet.  But that usually gets interrupted by other thoughts!  

But if I read Scripture out loud - take a detour, an unexpected route from how I usually meditate - I just may end up getting where I want to go after all.  Where I want to "go" is into God's Presence.  I also want His blessings, the success that He promises to His chosen in Joshua 1:8 if they do not let His words depart from their lips.

It is not a "name it and claim it" mentality.  It is simply obeying God!  He told us to meditate on His law, the Scripture He gave us. After all, God IS the Word.  Jesus IS the Word made flesh.  So we are very much "reading" God when we read out loud.  We should not take this privilege lightly!  

He told us to meditate - do not let His law depart from our lips - howl it, moan and groan your way through it, utter it, speak it - and what then?  He says that we will be prosperous and successful in all we do.

God is not promising us riches and fame.  That is not what He is referring to.  

God wants our souls to prosper.  He wants us to be well.  Because doing well apart from Him, His wisdom, His Word will not fill up our souls.  He wants us full of Himself so much so that the outer "prosperity" won't matter so much to us.  We already have all that we need in Him!

Does this contradict the lifestyles of His disciples, all of whom were told to take nothing with them but the clothes on their backs when they went to spread His gospel?  I don't think so.  The disciples were so very rich in spirit, in their souls.  Their "success" was in knowing God, as is ours.

Jesus told them not to gloat over the success they had in casting out demons, but in their relationship to Him - the fact that their names were written in His Book of Life.  

Jesus knew that getting too caught up in works, in "doing well," was a trap.  How so?  It could lead to pride, self-sufficiency, and wanting "stuff" more than God.

God knows how much success to give each of us so as not to ruin us.  Let Him decide what is right for you!

So we meditate - read God's Word out loud - in order to draw closer to God, determine His will, and so that He may prosper our souls with more of Himself.  For He really is enough.

I encourage you to give this way of mediating a try.  You may be amazed at the results.  

Dear Lord.  Thank You that we can know Your Word, know You.  Thank You that You want to prosper our souls.  Thank You that You want to give us success - not in the worldly sense, but success in obeying You and knowing Your loving will for us.  Help us to meditate on Your Word by reading it aloud, dear Lord.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.