“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve
Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the
Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14
God
told Joshua to call the Israelites to himself. He told Joshua his death would
be soon. The Israelites needed to be reminded of who God is, has been, and will
be, as well as what He has done for them as His people. In Joshua 24:14, God,
through Joshua, challenges them to recommit themselves to Him.
As
we consider this verse, we must notice all the imperatives—fear, serve, cast
aside, serve (again). For one verse to have so many commands, this should cause
us to ask some questions. The questions that come to my mind are the following
four.
·
Who
gave these commands? God gave them.
·
Whom
did God command? He commanded His people, Israel, and, by forward-pushing, His
children by faith.
·
How
were God’s people to keep His commands since humanity is sinful and unfaithful?
God would give them the will and ability to do what He commanded. God gives
absolutes. His ways are bigger than people’s. People must have the desire
(will) to follow God through their daily growing relationship with Him, which
makes His desires theirs. People also receive God’s empowering to do what He
commands, asks, and lays out.
·
What
did God command the Israelites to do? He gave four commands by using three
words and used one of them twice. God emphasized one command because it was a
very important imperative.
God’s
first command to the Israelites was to “fear the Lord.” Fearing God comes from the
Hebrew word yare’. It means to revere and honor. God commanded the Israelites
to revere and honor Him above all else. He would give them the ability to do
this. The Israelites would be in awe of God and could only worship and revere
Him solely if they grasped onto His power to forsake the self-concerned
murmurings of their fickle hearts and minds. God does not require what He does
not give the ability to do. People must want to be close to God so that they
receive His enabling because of their hearts and minds being attuned to His.
God said, “Fear the Lord,” to the Israelites. Draw near and worship God.
God
commanded the Israelites to “serve Him.” Again, what God commands people He
enables them to do. It requires selflessness, which will lead to godliness. God
commanded the Israelites to serve Him, Yahweh (the always existing One), not
other gods. Those other gods, which Yahweh said not to serve, include manmade
things, self, or other God-created things. He told the Israelites how to serve
Him—"in sincerity and truth.” People have a faithlessness that allows them
to perform worship acts without involving their heart, mind, and soul. God told
His people to serve Him with their whole being (sincerely) and faithfully (in
truth). These descriptors of the worship God requires may have caused the
Israelites recall what Moses told them. He said in Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the
Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Jesus
reiterated this in Matthew 22:37. So, God commanded the Israelites to grasp His
enabling of them faithfully to serve Him sincerely with their whole being.
God
gave a third command in verse 14. He demanded they “cast aside the gods your
fathers served.” Cast aside means to put away, remove, turn aside from. God
commanded the Israelites to grasp the power He gives them to turn away from the
false gods the Egyptian, Abraham, along with his ancestors, venerated. Do not
worship them; intentionally turn away from worshipping created things. Instead,
be in awe of Yahweh and worship Him, the One who was before time, is now, and
will be even beyond time. Choose to revere and serve Yahweh faithfully
(singularly) and completely, with your heart, mind, body, and soul.
That
third command in this verse leads to God’s final command. The final command is a
reiteration of the second imperative. He commanded the Israelites to cast away
the gods of their forefathers and the Egyptians and “serve Him.” Serving God
requires exclusivity, serving only Him. It requires oneness of being and
faithfulness. Serving God requires awe and reverence of Him singularly daily.
God enables His people to serve Him completely and exclusively. People are fickle
and unfaithful. Yet God does not command of people what He does not enable. God
gives His people the ability to have a close and personal relationship with
Him. From that relationship comes the will and desire to be closer to God and
to honor Him with their lives by word, action, attitude, and exclusive worship.
Even
today, God enables people to serve Him completely and selflessly. He does this
by bringing a sinful person into a close and personal relationship with Him
through Jesus. Because of God’s great love for people, He sent His Son, Jesus,
into the world to be born in human form, live sinlessly, die unjustly, and
arise from death victoriously. Jesus died for our sin punishment, which we
deserve, so that whoever believes in Him will be saved from their sin and given
eternal life with God in His kingdom (John 3:16). For anyone who confesses with
their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised Him
from the grave will be saved (Romans 10:9).
Anyone
who is God’s child can obey His commands in Joshua 25:14 with His enabling. Trying
to live as God’s child without His strength, power, and enabling, leads to sinning--missing
the mark. God expects His children to live by His enabling them with ability,
power, and strength. Anything less than exclusive and sincere worship of God is
unacceptable. They become tepid water He spits from His mouth (Revelation
3:15-16).
Today,
I encourage you to consider your relationship with God. Do you have a
relationship with God by believing in Jesus? Is your worship of God true
worship—done with your whole being? Do you worship God faithfully daily and
weekly? Do you grasp God’s gift of enabling you to worship Him in these ways?
Have you turned away from other things in your life that had more importance to
you than God and returned to worship Him wholeheartedly and singularly?
“Choose you this day who you will
serve.” (Joshua 24:15a)
