Good 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.”

Success is defined in a myriad of ways.

Big house.
Nice cars.
High-fashion clothing.
Instagram-official relationships.

Our culture has plenty of ways to tell us when we have “made it.”

But Joshua 1:8 gives us a different picture of success.

God tells Joshua to keep His instruction before him, meditate on it day and night, and be careful to do what is written in it.

That last part matters.

God wasn’t simply telling Joshua to read His Word.

He was telling him to live according to it.

Joshua received these instructions at a pivotal moment. Moses had died, and Joshua had been chosen to lead the Israelites into the land God had promised them. After forty years in the wilderness, Joshua was stepping into an enormous responsibility.

And what does God emphasize?

His Word.

“Do not let it depart from your mouth.”

“Meditate on it day and night.”

“Be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

That tells me something.

When Joshua was facing one of the greatest assignments of his life, God directed him back to what He had already spoken.

We need the Word.

Yet many of us will check our social media feeds every day.
Check our emails every day.
Watch our favorite shows every day.

But how often are we spending meaningful time in the Word?

We want direction from God while neglecting what He has already given us.

We want wisdom without sitting with His Word.

We want to know His ways without taking the time to learn what He has said.

And Joshua 1:8 doesn't tell us merely to read the Word. It says to meditate on it.

Stay with it.

Think about it.

Consider what it means.

Let it shape the way you think, the way you see circumstances, the decisions you make, and ultimately the way you live.

Because biblical meditation is meant to lead to obedience.

God told Joshua to meditate on His instruction “so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

The goal wasn't information.

It was transformation that resulted in obedience.

And we have to be careful with the word prosperous here.

Joshua 1:8 is not a promise that reading the Bible will make us wealthy, give us the house we want, or guarantee that everything in our lives will go according to plan.

Joshua's “good success” was connected to faithfully accomplishing what God had called him to do according to God's instruction.

That challenges the way we define success.

Maybe success isn't having everything the world tells us we should have.

Maybe success is faithfully becoming who God has called us to be and living according to what He has said.

But we cannot live according to a Word we never take the time to know.

Open your Bible.

Read it.

Meditate on it.

Let it challenge you.

Let it correct you.

Let it shape you.

And then, most importantly, do what it says.

Because according to Joshua 1:8, good success isn't simply found in knowing God's Word.

It's found in faithfully living by it.