Some parting words from Joshua

I finished my travels through Joshua this morning with his timely, firm reminders to the people he has faithfully led.

 

You yourselves have seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the LORD your God who fought for you.  Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Great Sea [a] in the west.  The LORD your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you. "Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. But you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now.  "The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.  One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.  So be very careful to love the LORD your God. (Joshua 23:3-9)

 

The he goes on to remind them:

• Do not associate with survivors from other peoples.  It will lead you where you don't want to go.
• If you serve other gods, God will be angry with you ... and your time in the Promised Land will be short.
• He reminds them of everything God has done ... all the way from Abraham
• And he implores them to CHOOSE ...

 Then the most famous of Joshua's declarations:

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  (Joshua 24:14-15)

And of course, in light of such a moving speech, the people heartily agree .... of course we will serve God.  We will not serve other gods.  HE is our God!  Kind of reminiscent of those sincere (albeit sometimes shortlived) commitments we make at camp and at conferences that often last almost until we get home. Again, not a complete cynic, but we all know how this ends.  They do start to intermarry and they do allow other gods to be worshipped in their communities and slowly but certainly, they forget those commitments.  Just. Like. Us!

I've been talking with an amazing young lady who wants to make some changes in her life and she's already made some pretty big ones.  But just like her and just like the Israelites, we don't often go from following God's plan to 6 miles to the right where we find ourselves soooo far off course.  We don't set off to follow after other gods, but we end up doing it one unwise decision after another.  Someone asked me this week, "Why study the Bible?"  This is why ... because it is out standard and it is our truth and when we don't know what it says, we find ourselves 6 miles off course by inch by inch by inch mistakes and bad decisions.

But for now, let's put the end of that story aside ... because truly, it's NOT the real END!  And let's consider with the Israelites whom we will serve.  As for me and my house, I will choose the Lord!