I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A forward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. Psalm 101:1-14

One thing that is mentioned in this Scripture is that: at a time when the Lord is talking about mercy and judgement is the time to behave wisely, in a perfect way. And it’s also the same time that people are sighing: “Lord, where are You? We’ve been expecting the Rapture, where are You?” When we find ourselves in a situation where we begin to say “Lord, when will You come?” then is the time walk with a perfect heart.

Where does this perfection come from? The story of Abigail confronting David in 1 Samuel 25:1-35 throws light on this. When Nabal, Abigail’s husband, refused David’s request for provisions, David swore he would kill him and all the males in his household. Abigail came and spoke softly and wisely to David. The most important thing she said to him was, “why do you want to shed innocent blood?” True, Nabal deserved to die, but Abigail recognized that one cannot kill somebody in anger and go scotfree because the Bible set up cities of refuges only if somebody accidentally kills another person. But what David was about to do was a deliberate act. Abigail spoke the word of God to David and by hearing the word, he behaved himself wisely. The woman spoke wisely. When you are feeling down, not too sure of what God is doing, this is a time when you need to learn to speak wisely, a time to inquire at the heart of God, through the word of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit (See Proverbs 18:4-7; 10:32).

Joshua 1:1-8 as case study

The book of Joshua describes the conquest of the land of Canaan. The name Joshua means Jehovah is salvation or Jehovah saves. In Greek, it means Jesus, and 1 John 4:17b says as Jesus is so are we today.

The theme of the book of Joshua is victory through faith. Where faith was going to come from was the lesson the Lord began to teach Joshua. God promised them the land, but they needed faith in order to acquire it. Has God promised you divine health, provision and all manner of promises? You aren’t going to have them except through the application of His word; that is what builds and triggers faith. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but it does not stop there. If you don’t use it, it is useless; it is only head-knowledge and will not build faith. The word of God is just knowledge to you, but it is when you use it that it becomes faith. John 8:32 says “you shall know the word of God (truth) and it shall set you free.”

How many people are in bondage today even though they know the word of God? Those who talk of the efficacy (potency) of anointing oil, have written books bigger than the bible, yet they can’t do without anointing oil. Knowledge and action are two different things. The same John 8:31 says “if you continue in My words, then are you My disciples indeed.” In other words, if you don’t continue in His words, you are just a disciple, not to be reckoned with. A disciple indeed is a disciple of note, a distinguished disciple.

In Joshua 1:1-6, God reminded Joshua of the promises He had made to their fathers and reiterated them, but gave him the conditions for which he and his people would receive the promises: “Be strong and of a good courage.”  Does that mean there is bad courage? God was specifying the kind of courage he was looking for –courage that is based on what the Lord says. If God did not tell you to build a house and you go ahead to build it, praying and fasting along, mustering courage against every opposition – landlord association and the government – you fought against them and built the house, that is courage, but because God did not send you to do it, it is bad courage. The application of a “thus says the Lord” with faith, is good courage, not courage generally speaking.

Faith is not to be wasted

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 whithersoever 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

In verse 7, God generalized courage to Joshua but not after the first type of courage which is based on what God says (instruction). God says that He would be with us as we carry His instructions along with us. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 28: all power has been given unto Me; go therefore into the world, make disciples of men. Lo, I will be with you always even to the end of the world. But the condition for Him to be with us always is that we go and teach all nations and baptizing them (making disciples). So if you don’t do it, you wont have Jesus with you always. For Joshua, the book of the law should not depart from his mouth, so that he would be prosperous and have good success.

The phrase “the book of the law’, in the Hebrew, is not commonly used. In most places it is written as “the law.” What was God trying to say to Joshua when He used the words ‘the book of the law?” We can have an understanding as we see a usage of the same word in Genesis 5:1 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.” The book of the law, from its first occurrence in Genesis 5:1 concerns a coded information, not to be understood at once but piecemeal (bit by bit). The point God was trying to pass on to Joshua was that he would have understanding of Him not just from one part of the book, but from the whole Bible!  The people that wrote the Bible, every single one of them had an attribute of the Lord that He Himself (God), by His own nature, was trying to display. So, until you are able to piece everything together, you may never have a complete picture of what God is trying to do. That is why we can go from Genesis to Revelation, picking out here and there, to tell you what God wants to say at any point in time. What then will be the fate of a lazy Christian who does not know the word of God? That person will not know the mind of God and therefore cannot behave wisely or perfectly. There’s no wisdom outside God.

Wisdom by definition is just the simple application of knowledge, rightly dividing issues by the application of knowledge. So if you don’t have knowledge, there’s no wisdom. It is when you apply knowledge, that people will say you are wise. But the only wisdom here is the totality of the word of God. And if you are a lazy Christian at this end time, you won’t even know your commission. If you don’t do what God commands you to do, don’t expect Him to be there for you.

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. Joshua 1:8

What was God saying when He said, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth? The mouth is a Hebrew word called peh. It describes the ordinary mouth which is a part of the body, but then it has plenty of spiritual meanings. It is an opening of a bag, in other words, it’s a source to something. I know that whatever we carry in a bag are things that are useful to us on a journey or outing. So God is saying that His word is supposed to dwell in you and wherever you go, you take it along with you. The question is: what are Christians carrying along today?

The word peh for the mouth also means an entrance of a city. Proverbs 8:3 says, She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. What do you get in a city? What kind of city (mouth) do you have? It is the word of God in your mouth that is the ornament of beauty. What is in this city of yours? A city can either be full of thugs or full of good people; it can either be beautiful or ugly. What is your city bringing forth?

The word peh for mouth is also used as a well. What is in your well? A well can be either good or bad – good water or bad water. Remember, it is what is in your well (mouth) that you will give out. If you don’t have the word of God in you, how can you lift a weary person?

The next is “…ye shall meditate on it, day and night.” The Hebrew word there for meditation is hagah, it means ‘to muse.’ To muse means “to think about something repeatedly, especially in low speech.”  Meditation has to do with speech, repeating the word of God to yourself. In fact that was how the Bible was read in Bible times. Meditation here is not just thinking.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? Psalm 2:1 The same word used as rage is the same word for meditation. The word of God is not meant to be kept in your heart, it is meant to be used (action). You can’t rage against God, you rage against the devil.

For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Prov. 24:2 The word used as studieth means to plan something, to plot. It is the same word for meditate that is used here.

The same word for meditation, is the same word that was used as my tongue. What do you plan/plot to do for the day? Psalm 37:30; 71:24; Prov. 15:28 are all instances that have to do with meditate. They tell you whether it is plot – good or bad.

Next is ‘day and night.’ The word used here is yohan means by day; day and nights; always. The word of God should be taken with you anywhere, always. The word used as night there is layil, and it means the twisting away of light, the going away of light gradually. It is used to denote something ominous, something bad. It appears in a figurative sense as a time of weeping, trial, suffering and communion with God. So when it is night, it is time to commune with God. In Psalm 30:5, the word that that was used as night there is the same word that was used for Joshua, it means the turning away of light to darkness. In troubled times, it is only the word of God that can be there to comfort you. Who do we depend on, where do we go when night (troubled times) come?

Next is ‘the way.’ The way is adherekh in Hebrew; it means a going, when you are walking, when you are on a journey. It also means your manner of living; it means a course, the road you set for yourself. So except you set your way right, you will not have good success.

Way can also mean a tree, as seen in Genesis. 24:21. In Genesis 45:23; Joshua 9:13 and 1 Kings 18:27 it is described as a tree. But more often, it relates to the behaviour of men. So when the Bible talks about your way, it is not talking about a road per say, but about how you live on that road that you have set for yourself.

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:6

God knows the course that you have set for yourself; whether righteous, it will lead you to good success; whether wicked, it will lead you to perish. God knows, He sees your ways. Where are you in His scheme of things? It is time to really do things right, but it starts with having the word of God in your heart, not just in your head.

What does God mean by “good success?” Good success is not having plenty of money, or many cars, it means “to be circumspect, to be prudent.” So when He says you shall have good success, it simply means, you shall know how to manage things, “the application of wisdom shall be your possession.”

In Psalm 36:3 and Amos 5:13, to have good success means “to act prudently, to have wisdom, skill or expertise,” “to be intelligent to have insight, to see where others don’t see, to turn your mind to something, to have understanding.”

So, common sense tells me that if I do these, I am going to succeed whether in the work of Lord or in my business. Success can be good or bad, to get something outside God is bad success. What the Lord is interested in, is you receiving instructions and carrying it out by the application of the word of God. It is when you do this, that you have good success.  You can only apply the word of God if it is in your heart. The only way you can be successful in ministry or as an individual, is to follow what God told Joshua.