“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8).

Have you ever tried to pry a bone away from a dog?  Watch out—you might get snapped at, or nipped!  This is a picture of what it means to meditate on Scripture.

Not the snapping or nipping part—the gnawing.

One of the Hebrew words which our Bibles translate as meditate is very similar to the Hebrew word for what a dog—or a lion!—does with a nice bone.  So “meditation” is not necessarily best understood as some mystical practice, something only for some spiritual elite; meditation is what all us ordinary dogs do with a good bone.

The Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer has a wonderful prayer about this idea: “Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant us that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ.”

To meditate on Scripture, we must hear, read, mark, learn and “inwardly digest.”  We need to gnaw!

Hear: we need to listen to Scripture, hearing it as God’s Word for us.

Read: open our eyes to it, take it into our minds and hearts, allow it to shape and form us

Mark: notice, pay attention, use your highlighter, take notes

Learn: study, ponder, memorize, become familiar with, receive from experts, become competent at handling, know it “by heart,” put it into practice

Inwardly digest: of our physical bodies it is said, “You are what you eat.”  So also with our spiritual lives: we become what we “eat,” and our daily bread is God’s Word.  If you’re like me, you rarely miss a meal (or even a snack!)—how often do we miss feeding ourselves the Word of God?

By commanding Joshua to meditate on “this Book of the Law,” God is not giving Joshua a manual or a handbook on “how to conquer the land,” but opening to Joshua a life centered upon the Lord and his Word.  Scripture is not a to-do list, but daily nourishment and sustenance for life in God, for both Joshua and the people he is called to lead.  

Did you notice? God’s Word must depart from Joshua’s mouth.  He is not first called to do or to lead, but to gnaw!

What are one or two ways God is inviting you to grow as a gnawer of his Word?