Hearing Thunder When You Read the 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” (Joshua 1:8).

This is my favorite verse in Joshua 1, but the whole chapter feels like a long, distant thunder proving that something’s about to change. Moses has died, Joshua is appointed to lead the nation and now something is about to happen. 

I think all of us want something to happen in our lives. So the question is how do we hear the thunder? How do we move forward toward the next important thing? Joshua gives us two answers:

1. Meditate. There are two words in the Old Testament for “meditate.” This one in verse 8 means literally to mutter, as in mumbling quietly to yourself. Your mind is working so deeply that your tongue joins in. Lots of deep thinkers do this. Einstein’s family made fun of him for doing it, calling him “the monotone.” Churchill paced for hours alone in his study muttering and shouting phrases, testing and retesting them. Even C.S. Lewis is described as having a muttering habit, whispering six or seven words to himself before writing them, then dipping his pen in ink to recollect his thoughts before whispering again.

This kind of meditation is one way we are supposed to read our Bibles. It is different from just reading it through and it is different from detailed study. Both of those things are important, but the most biblical way to read the Bible is to mumble our way through. Reading, pausing, and whispering to ourselves about what we just read pushes it into our brains in a way that starts to change us and helps us hear the thunder. Absorbing, analyzing; this is the key change, and Mark Zuckerberg figured this out some time ago. Let me explain.

Ann and I taught riding this summer so I spent some time on the internet buying horse medications, farrier supplies, feed, etc. Giving slow attention to horse stuff online meant that my social media exploded with reels of Grand Prix events. Guess what I want to do now? I can’t stop plotting how to step back into that show jumper world. I haven’t ridden a horse like that in forty years, but spending time absorbing how to ride effectively over big fences has re-awakened something. Just ask Ann, I’ve started muttering about it, wandering through the steps for how to get back in the ring. 

A lot of us feel stuck. We don’t know what’s next, or maybe it just feels like we can’t get started. Your social media feed probably has some suggestions, but I suspect there are bigger topics to address first. I think the whole nation of Israel felt that way during this transition from Moses to Joshua. Reading the Bible in a slow, muttering way, was a required part of their solution.

2. Do it with others. In verses 12-15 Joshua calls out the tribes of Ruben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, commanding them in particular to be part of the invasion. It’s a weird thing to do, unless you remember what happened in Numbers 32.

Near the end of Israel’s years wandering in the desert these guys stopped traveling with the rest of the tribes. They found a plot of land that they were happy with and decided to stay. Moses was furious, but the best he could do was to extract a promise that they would return to help when it came time to enter the promised land. Now that time had come, and Joshua is holding them to their promise. Why? Specifically, why go back to this minority that had abandoned them, these traitors? Because they needed them.

Christian unity is not an option. Practically, it is not okay to just read the Bible and decide on your own what you think it means or what to do about it.  We can’t “seek wise counsel” alone, or with just our family, or with just our friends. Time and again we are exhorted to approach the Bible together, as a full church (Jos. 8:34-25, 1 TIm. 4:13, Col. 4:16, Rev. 1:3, Neh.  8:1-2,8, Deut. 3:11-12). The point is that meditating is a very individual activity, but it is not for an individual purpose. God has a place he wants to take me, and you, but there are times when he will only take us there as part of his church (Numbers 32:6-12).

So what should I do about this today? Two things:

1. Read Joshua 1 slowly, and stop and talk to yourself about the interesting things you stumble on. Don’t read the whole thing. Just read until you catch yourself mumbling.

2. Write on a piece of paper the answer to this question. What will it take for me to connect more meaningfully with the church this week?