Ⅲ
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall muse upon it day and night so that you may be certain to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and take courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. For Jehovah your God is with you wherever you go”—Josh. 1:8-9:
A
Joshua was to be occupied with God’s word and let the word occupy him (cf. Col. 3:16); by being occupied and filled with the word, he would have prosperity and success in taking the God-promised land.
B
The key to Joshua’s carrying out all that is written in God’s Word and the key to his prosperity, success, strength, and courage in taking the God-promised land were for him to not let God’s word depart from his mouth by musing upon it day and night; the words your mouth show that musing was mainly practiced by speaking aloud:
１
The Hebrew word for muse is rich in meaning; it implies to worship, to converse with oneself, and to speak aloud; to muse on the word is to taste and enjoy it through careful considering—Psa. 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 97-100, 148, cf. vv. 9-11.
２
Prayer, speaking to oneself, and praising the Lord may also be included in musing on the word; to muse on the word of God is to enjoy His word as His breath (2 Tim. 3:16) and thus to be infused with God, to breathe God in, and to receive spiritual nourishment.
３
To muse upon the Word is to “chew the cud,” like a cow eating grass (Lev. 11:3); when we muse upon the word of God, we receive it with much consideration and reconsideration; just as a cow chews its cud, we may do this while we are pray-reading the word early in the morning so that we may receive nourishment by reconsidering what we receive from God’s word.
C
The psalmist said, “I will muse upon Your precepts / And regard Your ways. / I will take delight in Your statutes; / I will not forget Your word”—Psa. 119:15-16:
１
When the psalmist mused upon God’s word, it became his delight, his gladness and joy (Jer. 15:16), and he would not forget God’s word; thus, it became a constant and eternal nourishment to him (Psa. 119:105, 130).
２
By musing upon God’s word, we remember His word and are enlivened by it—“Remember the word to Your servant / In which You have made me hope. / This is my comfort in my affliction, / For Your word has enlivened me”—vv. 49-50.
D
Musing upon the word is even richer, broader, and more inclusive than pray-reading, for it includes prayer, worship, enjoyment, conversation, bowing down, and even lifting up our hand to receive God’s word (v. 48); to lift up our hand unto the word of God is to indicate that we receive it warmly and gladly and that we say Amen to it (Neh. 8:5-6).
E
When we touch the Lord’s word with our spirit in this way and remain in continual fellowship with Him, we should have a feeling of being bathed, warmed, refreshed, moistened, and supplied by the word in the Bible; the one thing, the best thing, we should do is to touch Him, worship Him, believe in Him, absorb Him, enjoy Him, pursue Him, and gain Him—Psa. 27:4; Phil. 3:8, 14.
F
When we truly take time to muse upon God’s word, we are being infused with God to glow with God and to shine forth God (2 Cor. 3:15-18); this is why we sing, “Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Bathing in His countenance; / Saturated with His beauty, / Radiate His excellence” (Hymns, #784, stanza 6).
G
Because our Lord and our God has commanded us to enter into and enjoy Him as the reality of the all-inclusive good land, we should say Amen to His word to be strong, to take courage, and to not be afraid or dismayed, for Jehovah our God is with us wherever we go, as we disciple all the nations to make them the kingdom people until the end of this age, the time of His coming—Josh. 1:9; Matt. 28:20.
Morning Nourishment
Psa. 119:48 …I will lift up my hand to Your commandments, which I love; and I will muse upon Your statutes.147-148 I anticipated the dawn and cried out; I hoped in Your words. My eyes anticipated the night watches, that I might muse upon Your word.
To lift up our hand unto the word of God is to indicate that we receive it warmly and gladly and that we say Amen to it (Neh. 8:5-6). (Psa. 119:48, footnote 1)
[In Psalm 119:147] we see that the psalmist rose up before dawn, cried out, and hoped in God’s word. Verse 148 goes on to…[indicate that] the psalmist woke up during the night to muse upon God’s word. Musing upon the Word involves more than just meditating on it. We muse upon the Word by talking to God, worshipping Him, enjoying Him, receiving grace from Him, and conversing with ourselves in the Lord’s presence. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 671)
Today’s Reading
To muse upon the Word of God is to enjoy His Word as His breath. It is to contact God in the Word and to have fellowship with Him, to worship Him, and to pray to Him through and with the Word. By musing upon the Word of God in this way, we shall be infused by God, breathe Him into us, and receive spiritual nourishment.The psalmist waited for the Lord’s word, hoped in it, and arose before dawn to cry out to the Lord that he needed His word. Then he mused upon the Word, worshipping the Lord, praying to Him, and receiving His supply. He also spoke to himself and instructed himself with the Word of God. All this is part of musing upon the Word of God. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 671-672)
Concerning meditating [musing] on the Word,…George Muller…said,…“The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.” (CWWN, vol. 48, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (1),” p. 138)
When we touch the Lord’s Word with our spirit and remain in continual fellowship with Him, our spirit should have a feeling of being bathed, as if our whole being were taking a bath in the Bible. This is refreshing, comfortable, and joyful. We should have this kind of feeling when we fellowship with God through reading the Word….When we pass through God’s word, we should be like a person who has taken a bath, a person who has been soaked in water. The more we read, the more we should be refreshed….This freshness…is like the freshness of the morning dew….We may not know what has touched us, what has enlightened us, or what we have learned, but we will be moistened. As we read verse by verse, we become moist, and we will be full of an inward sweetness. In addition, we will sense a supply. The more we read, the more we will be inwardly satisfied, filled, empowered, and strengthened. There will also be light.
This is the way we should read the Bible for thirty minutes in the morning. Although we may not understand anything, we will take a bath in God’s Word and feel warm in our spirit. We will not have the sense of being hot, scorched, or burned, but we will have an indescribably warm feeling and be refreshed, moistened, supplied, and satisfied. This is good Bible reading. This can be compared to eating a rich breakfast. We may not remember exactly what we ate, but we will feel full and energized….This is an indescribable feeling. The more we read the Lord’s Word and fellowship with Him in this way, the more we will know how real and sweet it is to read the Bible. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” pp. 323-324)
Further Reading: Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 40; CWWN, vol. 48, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (1),” chs. 9,11; CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” lsn. 24