“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it… for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” (Joshua 1:8, NASB)
Billy Casper stomped Arnold Palmer by seven shots the last nine of the 1966 US Open to set the stage for a playoff. The next day “Buffalo Bill” dusted the King.
Billy never gained the fame of Palmer, Nicklaus, or Player during that era, though he won more than 50 PGA Tour titles, including three majors.
Some writers considered him an oddball because of his strange diet of buffalo meat and organic vegetables. He also had another peculiar habit at the time. He would tell his caddie out loud what he intended to do with a shot before he took his backswing.
Some Tour pros today do this in order to commit themselves to a shot.
Today, we look at the word meditate in Joshua 1:8. Linguist and pastor Eugene Peterson had this to say about the Hebrew word meditate:
A lion over its catch and a person over the Torah act similarly. They both growl quietly in pleasurable anticipation of taking in what will make them more themselves.“The word meditate comes from the Hebrew word hagah, which is bodily action. It involves murmuring and mumbling words, getting the feel of the meaning as the syllables are shaped by larynx and tongue and lips. Isaiah used this word meditate for the sounds a lion makes over its prey (Isaiah 31:4). A lion over its catch and a person over the Torah act similarly. They both growl quietly in pleasurable anticipation of taking in what will make them more themselves, that which will make them strong and lithe and swift…
“This is quite different from reading God’s Word in a superficial way or simply thinking about it. Meditating on God’s Word is not a rote exercise but a revolutionary one that doesn’t simply teach us but transforms us.”
Peterson’s definition tears down my passive concept of meditating. My habit of meditating often puts me to sleep, a far cry from “meditating, as a lion over its prey.”
Maybe Casper’s open-mouthed rehearsal to a shot was not far from the purring and low growls of Hebrew meditation.
—
Jim Hiskey
Originally published March 21, 2011
Copyright 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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