Serve The Lord!
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Joshua continues his final words in this chapter and his death and burial are recorded
at the end of the chapter. Joshua reminds Israel of all that God has done for them.
God brought them up out of Egypt by sending the plagues. God protected them as the
fled Egypt and the Egyptians chased after them. God allowed them to conquer all of
their foes on the way to Canaan. God allowed them to conquer Canaan.
Then Joshua pleas with the people to give up the false gods of Egypt and serve the one
a true God of heaven. It seems like this should be a given, yet the people had spent
their whole lives serving false gods and some of them had only recently been shown
the power of the true God. Why was is so hard for some of them to let go of their false
gods? While we usually don’t have literal idols today, we still struggle with false gods.
Why is it so hard for us to give up our false gods and serve the true and living God.
Sometimes our god is our job, our friends, or family. Yet the god that I see more people
serving than any other god in our world today is money. Many people will do anything
for money including compromising their integrity, values, and morals. False gods did
not redeem us. False gods will not save us, and unless we turn away from them the
true God will not deliver us either.
JOSHUA 24
[24:1] Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the
elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they
presented themselves before God. [2] And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says
the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the
father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other
gods. [3] ‘Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him
throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
[4] ‘To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess,
but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. [5] ‘Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I
plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.
[6] ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the
Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. [7] ‘So they
cried out to the LORD; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought
the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then
you dwelt in the wilderness a long time. [8] ‘And I brought you into the land of the
Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I
gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from
before you. [9] ‘Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against
Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. [10] ‘But I would not
listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his
hand. [11] ‘Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of
Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your
hand. [12] ‘I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the
two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. [13] ‘I have given
you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell
in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ [14] “Now
therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods
which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
[15] “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me
and my house, we will serve the LORD.” [16] So the people answered and said: “Far be
it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; [17] “for the LORD our
God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that
we went and among all the people through whom we passed. [18] “And the LORD
drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.
We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.” [19] But Joshua said to the people,
“You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not
forgive your transgressions nor your sins. [20] “If you forsake the LORD and serve
foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done
you good.” [21] And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD!”
[22] So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have
chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!”
[23] “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and
incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.” [24] And the people said to Joshua, “The
LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!” [25] So Joshua made a
covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in
Shechem. [26] Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he
took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the
LORD. [27] And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to
us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore
be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” [28] So Joshua let the people depart,
each to his own inheritance. Death of Joshua and Eleazar [29] Now it came to pass
after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one
hundred and ten years old. [30] And they buried him within the border of his inheritance
at Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount
Gaash. [31] Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the
elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had
done for Israel. [32] The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up
out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought
from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and
which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. [33] And Eleazar the son of
Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given to
him in the mountains of Ephraim.”
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@dddoo7 said in Serve The Lord!:
Yet the god that I see more people
serving than any other god in our world today is money. Many people will do anything
for money including compromising their integrity, values, and morals.People serve money, even when they don't think they do. Greed has consumed so many, that it's difficult to find anyone that isn't consumed by it. Why do people stay in cities? Why do they work jobs they hate? Why do both parents leave the home and turn their children over to other people each day? Why do people live paycheck to paycheck? Why do people complain to me about the price of elite luxury items? Why do those same people have campers, boats, quads, and 4 vehicles? Why do they always need a bigger house? Why do they always need the newest vehicle? Never content with anything, no matter how much they have. The answer is always more.
It's a harsh reality to face that most people are consumed by greed. They don't think they are, but their actions in this life says otherwise. Chances are that most of you reading this are consumed by greed. If you'd quit wanting everything in the world, you'd quit spending money trying to have everything in the world... and you'd find you have an abundance of money for things you actually need.
