As a former sales specialist in a famous shopping mall in the Philippines, SM Supermalls (If you really are a true Pinoy, you would know), I am assigned at the appliances section, SM Appliance Center. I sell, well, appliances particularly, refrigerators and washing machines. But they are not really the products I’m supposed to sell because the product that is assigned to me to sell is an appliance base with wheels where you can put your appliances like refrigerators so they can be movable anywhere. We call it “Durabase”.
But before deployment, a sales personnel should undergo a basic product knowledge training wherein he/she has to study first the product and its specification before he/she is eligible to sell it. Well, it is funny to think that you are selling something you know nothing about. The advantage of undergoing a product knowledge training is you will get familiar with the product and you would be able to sell with ease. You would also be able to answer customer’s concern or complains regarding the product.
To better understand the product, where should we go? We should go through the manual. A manual is a book of instructions, especially for operating a machine or learning a subject. With the manual, we are able to know how to properly operate a machine, how to troubleshoot its problems and how to handle it with care. Mostly, all the products that we purchase, it always comes with a manual. But the fact is, the manual is the most neglected thing inside the box. When was the last time you took interest in reading a manual? Maybe the last time your “precious” device malfunctioned.
That is our problem, we only go through the manual when the devices we are using is not working as it should. We neglected the manual that will teach us to properly operate the device, troubleshoot its problems and handle it with care. Same goes in our life. We always ask ourselves why we experience failures in many aspects of our life. God even promised in Jeremiah 29:11,
“11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
The Lord wants to bless us and wants us to experience success in everything that we do. But there’s a condition we should follow.
Joshua 1:7 New Living Translation (NLT)
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.
We often experience failures in life because we have neglected the Manual of Life which is God’s Word written in the Bible. Like the everyday machines and devices we use, we too have our own manual to use. We fail in life because we fail to read, the Manual of Life, His Word. Oopps! We did not just fail to read it but we fail to meditate and study His Word.
As the Lord commanded Joshua after Moses’ death,
Joshua 1:8 NASB (New American Standard Bible)
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
In the version of GNT (Good News Translation), the word meditate was translated to “study”,
Joshua 1:8 GNT (Good News Translation)
Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. STUDY it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
God wants to bless us but there’s a condition: in everything that we do, His Word should NOT depart from us. We shall meditate on it day and night. As long as there are day and night, meditate on it all day long. It should be a part of our lifestyle and be dependent on it and it should not just be our scapegoat when things aren’t going our way.
Christian meditation is not about “hearing the literal voice of God”. The Bible is His voice, His Word already. If the Bible is sufficient to thoroughly equip us for every good work, how could we think we need to seek a mystical experience instead of or in addition to it?
True Christian meditation is an active thought process whereby we give ourselves to the study of the Word, praying over it and asking God to give us understanding by the Spirit, who has promised to lead us “into all truth” (John 16:13). Then we put this truth into practice, committing ourselves to the Scriptures as the rule for life and practice as we go about our daily activities. This causes spiritual growth and maturing in the things of God as we are taught by His Holy Spirit (For more information about Christian meditation click on the link https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-meditation.html)
Jeremiah 29:11 is a very famous verse because it is God’s promise of abundance and success. Many Christians would even quote it as their “life verse”. Try asking them especially new believers. But God’s promises are often conditional. We also have to do our part.
Jeremiah 29:12-13
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
We always claim the Jeremiah 29:11 promise but we have neglected to obey the next verses. We want to experience God’s promise but we fail. We fail because we fail to come to Him. We cannot meditate and study His Word without coming to Him in humility first. If we really want to experience success that really lasts, we have to come to Him, the Author of the Manual of Life, and meditate and study His Word. Whether we meditate and study or not, it’s us who would experience its outcomes and the Lord is still God. It is our loss if we neglect to meditate and study the Manual of Life, the Bible, His Word.
But, of course, our meditation and study of the Word of God will not be made complete if we will not apply the learnings in our everyday life. So, let us read, meditate, study and apply the Word of God.
Reflection:
Joshua 1:7 New Living Translation (NLT)
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.
The world’s definition of true success is not the same as God defines it. John Bevere quoted,
“If we are to truly succeed in life, we must succeed by God’s eternal definition. All other success will one day fail. Only success by God’s definition will endure.” – John Bevere
The success this world offers is only temporary. God’s promise of success is eternal provided that we surrender our lives to Him, obey Him and continue to pursue Him. And our journey to true success starts when we start to come to Him and meditate and study His Word.
Jasper Thoughts 