The Strategy No One Expected

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (Joshua 1:7-9)

Joshua faced one of the most impossible assignments in human history. He was to take a people who had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, lead them across the Jordan River, and conquer Jericho, a fortress city no army was supposed to be able to take. Any military strategist would have had an opinion on how to approach it. They would have told him which units to deploy, which weapons to use, and how to breach those walls. But God had nothing to say about any of that.

God told Joshua to meditate on the Word day and night, and he would have good success. That is the strategy nobody expected. It wasn’t a list of military maneuvers or logistical planning. The book of the law, the Word that God had already given, was to stay in Joshua's mouth and be in his mind constantly. He was to think on it repeatedly, to let it shape his confidence, to let it get into him so deeply that it became the very air he breathed. And the specific word God gave him to meditate on was simple: be strong and courageous. Meditation is how the Word gets from your head into your heart.

Meditation is when you take a Scripture and turn it over and over in your mind. It’s thinking about it from different angles, connecting it to your situation, saying it out loud, letting it change how you see yourself and the obstacles in front of you. You can get so caught up in a single verse in that kind of meditation that an hour disappears on one verse.

Practical Application

Choose a specific Scripture this week that speaks directly to something you are believing God for, and commit to meditating on it every day, not just reading it. Say it out loud and think about it throughout the day.

Psalm 1:2; Deuteronomy 5:32