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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Joshua 24:15
“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.”
Great leaders bring great challenges and demand important choices.
They know that by nature we are all existentialists. We always go for the soft option and comfort zone. We all like security. Doing what we’ve always done - we like to feel safe. We all become T.V. addicts and enjoy sitting down watching it rather than competing in sport. We prefer to judge and criticise others rather than getting up and doing something about it ourselves.
Joshua was by now a veteran warrior. He had not only fought for the people and gained the Promised Land, but had led and governed them in it. His job was complete. He had finished his race and fulfilled his God-ordained destiny. Now he was about to enter his promised rest. He had learnt a lot about people over the years - especially these people. He had led them in terrific victories, he had shared humiliating defeats because of their disobedience - even as recently as Ai, and he had suffered the 40 years in the wilderness because of their lack of faith.
Yes, he knew human nature well and how volatile and fickle they were and so here, for one last time, he challenged the people. How many times had he done it before. As he was about to leave them, he was still more worried about them than he was for himself. He wanted to catch their attention. He wanted them to think clearly what they would do after he had gone. He wanted them to commit themselves before God to promise to follow Him and Him alone.
He had already left them a physical legacy. He had already established his own spiritual legacy but he wanted more. He wanted to know for sure that though he was no longer going to be with them - they would still follow and serve the Lord. But he gave them a choice. He knew that God had given ‘man’ a free will and coercing a commitment was temporary and worthless so he set before them an option, which would demand a choice. He also nailed his own colours to the mast. No matter what their choice was, he declared, “as for me and my household - we will serve the Lord.”
All the people responded by saying, “We too will serve the Lord, because He is our God.” Joshua replied, “But you can’t.” “He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after He has been good to you.” But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord” (v 18 - 21).
There and then Joshua set up a stone under an oak tree and told them that the stone was a witness to their covenant with God forever.
What about you? Will you allow the gods of this world - favouritism, fate, fake/falsehood, flesh, fashion, fads, fantasy, food, finance, fame or fortune - to turn you away from serving the living God?
Or will you, like Joshua, be able to say at the end of your life -
“As for me AND MY HOUSEHOLD, we will serve the Lord”?
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