Learning to Muse upon God’s Word with much Prayer, Considering, and Speaking to God

The key to Joshua’s having success and being prosperous is his musing on the law; our being prosperous and having success depends on our musing upon the Word of God, taking the Word with much careful and prayerful consideration. Amen!

We are thankful that the Lord has shown us a vision of His eternal economy, and we want to heed His word, paying attention and prayerfully considering His word so that we may walk worthily of the Lord.

Our Christian life has much to do with the Word of God. His word is our foundation and base, and His promises are our supply and strength.

Our Christian life is based on the Word of God, and we do not look at what we can see nor do we base our life on how we feel but rather, we trust in the Lord, believe His Word, and say Amen to His Word.

The enemy comes to us to cause us to fear, but we stand on God’s word.

Satan’s calling card is fear; fear is from the devil, and when we feel that fear is with us, we simply need to turn to the Lord in His word and pray His Word back to Him.

We can strongly declare to the devil and to the whole universe that we do not fear him nor do we fear anyone or anything else – we only fear God, and we know that God is for us!

Jehovah is our light and He is our salvation – whom shall we fear? Jehovah is the strength of our life – whom shall we dread?

We know that God will not abandon us, His people, for we are His inheritance, so He will not forsake us.

Praise the Lord, we have a gift given to us by God – our human spirit – where Satan cannot touch us! Our spirit is not a spirit of cowardice but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.

We may feel that we are down and low, but our feelings are altogether a lie; we need to declare and believe the Word of God, which says that we are full of love, full of light, and full of life.

This is what it means for us to be strong and take courage, as Jehovah told Joshua; we can be strong and very courageous by standing on the Word of God and by taking God at His word.

May we not turn to the left or to the right from God’s word but may we remain under the heavenly vision of God’s eternal economy so that we may have success wherever we go and we would have a walk worthily of the Lord.

We can obtain the testimony of being well-pleasing to God by remaining in His word, believing that He is and we are not, and praying His Word back to Him.

May the Lord have mercy on us and teach us to muse upon the Word of God so that we may be infused with God, live because of His element operating in us, and express Him in our daily living.

The Key to Carrying out what’s Written God’s Word is Musing upon the Word of God

After Jehovah commissioned and encouraged Joshua, He told him the secret, the key, for him to be successful and carry out what God wants him to do: the book of the law shall not depart from his mouth but he shall muse on it day and night.

If Joshua had the book of the law not only in his mind to think about it but also in his mouth, musing upon the Word of God day and night so that he may be certain to do according to all that is written in it, then he will be successful.

God promised to him that, if he mused upon the book of the law to do all that is written in it, God will make his way prosperous and he will have success (see Josh. 1:8-9).

It is very interesting to see that the book of the law should not depart from our mouth; the Bible should not depart from our mouth.

Rather, we should muse upon the Word of God day and night; this has to do with our mind.

Some Bible versions render the word “muse” as “meditate”, and many times people practice this – inward thinking, silent meditation, and inner pondering on the word of God.

But according to the Bible to muse upon the Word of God has to do with our mouth.

Musing has nothing to do with mere meditation or silent pondering – it has to do with our mouth, speaking with ourselves, speaking to the Lord, praying, and opening to Him.

If we muse upon God’s word by using our mouth, if we practice speaking the Word of God to ourselves and to the Lord in our personal time with Him, He will make us prosperous and give us success.

And this prosperity is not mere outward wealth and prosperity of which the “prosperity gospel” talks about.

Rather, it is God being with us where we are, His blessing being with us, and Christ being our enjoyment and experience for the building up of the Body.

We need to be occupied with the word of God and let the word of God occupy us (Col. 3:16); when we allow the Word of God to dwell in us richly, we will be prosperous in what we do, and we can work out everything that is written in the Word of God.

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 was for him not to let God’s word depart from his mouth by musing upon it day and night.

The words “your mouth” show that musing upon the Word of God was mainly practiced by speaking aloud.

When we muse upon God’s word, we speak the word of God aloud – both to ourselves and to the Lord, conversing with God and with ourselves in His word and with His word.

If we do this, if we muse on God’s word, we will gain Christ as our real prosperity and success (Phil. 3:8).

Success is not outward success in man’s eyes but in God’s eyes; real success is being before the Lord in that day and being told by Him, Well done, good and faithful slave, you were faithful over a few things – now I will set you over many things; enter into the joy of your Master.

And the way to gain such success and to be prosperous, the way to fulfill what is written in the Word of God is to muse upon God’s word to be infused with God’s element and express Him in our daily living.

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to muse upon God’s word and be infused with God. We want to allow Your word to occupy us and fill us. May Your word dwell in us richly so that we may be occupied and filled with Yourself. Amen, Lord, may we learn this key to being prosperous and successful in God’s eyes – musing on the word of God day and night! Teach us to muse on Your word so that we may be successful and well-pleasing in Your sight. We desire to enter into the joy of our Master in the coming kingdom. Keep us in Your word, musing on it day and night with much prayerful consideration and speaking.

Learning to Muse upon God’s Word with much Prayerful Consideration and Speaking to the Lord

What does it mean to muse upon the Word of God? This word, musing, is rich in meaning, for it implies to worship, to converse with oneself, and to speak aloud.

When we muse on God’s word, we taste it and enjoy it through careful considering; we also pray to ourselves, pray to the Lord, and praise the Lord.

The word of God is His breath, His breathing out (2 Tim. 3:16); when we muse on God’s word, we enjoy Him by breathing Him in, and we receive spiritual nourishment.

Psa. 119 has many verses that speak of musing upon the Word of God (vv. 15, 23, 48, 99, 148). Musing involves taking time to consider, reconsider, pray, speak aloud, worship the Lord with the Word, and say Amen to the Word.

It’s like the process of “chewing the cud” by the cows; the cows don’t just take the grass, chew it, and swallow it, and that’s all – they “regurgitate” it by chewing it, rechewing it, and again rechewing it, until it becomes suitable to be digested.

We need to “chew the cud” when we read the word of God; as we read, we may spontaneously pray, and we may converse with ourselves or begin to praise the Lord, thanking Him and praising Him with the word.

For example, in Psa. 103 the psalmist said, Bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Then he continued by saying, Do not forget all His benefits, for He pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases. Bless the Lord, o my soul.

The psalmist prayed to God, prayed to himself, and conversed with himself and with God.

To muse upon God’s word is not merely to read it and ponder on it mentally; it is to read it out loud, to pray with God’s word, and to taste it and enjoy it through careful consideration.

We may read the Word, pray with the Word, speak with the Word, and not forget His word.

To muse on the word of God is to enjoy His word as His breath and thus to be infused with God, to breathe God in, and to receive spiritual nourishment.

When we read the Word, we can praise God with the Word; we thank God for His word, and we say Amen to His word.

We breathe ourselves out and we breathe the Lord in. When we muse upon the Word of God, we receive it with much consideration and reconsideration; 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.

We need to re-chew the word, masticate the word, and “chew the cud” as we read and pray and converse with the Word.

Musing upon the Word is slower and finer than pray-reading the Word; it involves taking time to enjoy the Word, conversing with the Lord with the word, applying the word to our situation, and praising the Lord for His word.

Sometimes in our musing upon the Word we may bow down to worship the Lord, ponder the Word, and be rebuked by the Word.

When we do this, when we prayerfully consider and converse with the Lord and with ourselves with the Word of God, the more we are infused with Him, for He is transfusing His element into us by means of His Word, and we delight ourselves in His word, praise Him with His word, and are supplied with His word.

We may express our love for the Lord in His word, He may expose us and we may weep as He shines on us through His Word, and we may delight ourselves in His word.

This is to enjoy the Lord in His word by musing upon the Word of God.

We all need to learn to muse upon the Word of God, taking the Word into us by means of prayer, worship, singing, conversing, prayerful consideration, and much speaking to God and to ourselves.

This will lead us to having success and being prosperous in the work that He wants us to do.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn how to muse upon God’s word to enjoy Your riches, be infused with You, and live by You today. We open to You, dear Lord, and we come to Your word to just converse with You, pray Your word back to You, and make Your word our prayer. How we love to enjoy You in Your word, breathing in the breathed out Word of God. We love to taste Your word through careful considering in prayer. Amen, Lord, You are our spiritual nourishment in Your word. Your word is our daily food. We love You and we love Your word. Keep us chewing on Your word, masticating Your word, and prayerfully considering Your word by speaking Your word, praising You with Your word, and thanking You with Your word. Amen, Lord, we will muse upon Your word and regard Your ways. We will take delight in Your speaking and we will not forget Your word!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 56-57 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 1, God’s Charge, Promise, and Encouragement to Joshua.
• Recommended further reading on this topic:
  – 7 tips on how to meditate or muse on God’s word (via holdingtotruth.com);
  – Discovering the lost art of musing on the Word of God (via holdingtotruth.com);
  – How the Old Testament seekers of God enjoyed His law (life-study of Exodus, msg. 57);
  – Masticate – the word of the week (via, Church in Irvine);
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Now to enjoy Thee I come to Thy Word, / On Thee to feed till my hunger is o’er. / Now in my spirit I turn unto Thee, / Of Thee to drink till I’m thirsty no more. / Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading-Lord, Thou art my fare. (Hymns #811)
  – I have loved Your precepts; O Jehovah, enliven me. / I have not swerved from Your testimonies. Your word is truth. / In Your statutes do I take delight; / In Your precepts do I muse. / In my heart do I treasure Your word / That I might not sin against You. (Scripture song)
  – I will muse upon Your precepts, / And regard Your ways, / I will turn the Bible into / Both my prayer and praise. / I will sing it in the morning, / And I’ll pray it all day long, / Until Jehovah has become / My strength and song. (Scripture song)