God said this to Joshua just prior to the children of Israel entering the promised land:

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. – Joshua 1:7-8 NKJV.

The Message in part puts Joshua 1:7-8 as: Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed.

When I was about 13 years old my Dad had to go work for the day. If I remember right, he was still working at the Clinton-Shermon Air Force Base near us doing some maintenance work. Our land was already prepared for planting cotton but since the wind was really blowing the dirt was blowing. My Dad wanted me to use a little Ford tractor that we had with a spring tooth plow and streak sections of about 80 acres to keep the dirt from blowing so much. Simple enough for me to do and it took several hours. I was almost finished when I saw a coyote and I started chasing it with the tractor. That was when I ran into a bunch of old discarded barbed wire and got the tractor and the plow all tangled up in it. It took a long time to cut the wire off of everything and I’m sure even the coyote was laughing at me!

It is entirely too easy to wander off the right path of life and become all tangled up in things far from what God wants. It probably won’t be a coyote that we begin to chase, but it may be a career choice that is good, but not the best that God has for us. We also may wander off the right path of life because of the attractions of sinful things – you know what they are. There are so many little things that can grab our attention and lead us astray.

It took me hours that day to be able to cut out of the barbed wire and finish up with the plowing. Once we have gotten off the right path in life it may take us years to turn back to the way that God has for us. Sadly, some may never make it back to that path God had originally planned for their lives. It is all too easy to become all tangled up in things far from the will of God.

God’s instructions to Joshua are still His instructions to us today. If we want success in life, we must include time in the Word of God. We need to read it, meditate upon it, and memorize it. As Jesus told that old devil when He was being tempted in the wilderness: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).”