Choices of Life

“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)

 

One Thing I Have Asked

One thing I have asked from the Lord,

that I desire (seek) to serve Him,

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord (be in His presence) all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty and pleasantness of the Lord (seeing His glorious face) and

to contemplate on Him in His temple.

Psalms 27:4

 

Only a pure (righteous) person, made so by God, can look at the Lord. In the Old Testament, the Israelites understood when an unrighteous person looked at God, that person would die. Moses understood this. He learned it from God when God covered Moses’ face on the mountain so he would not see His face and die. 

David expressed his greatest desire was to seek to serve the Lord. He stated one desire then expounded on it. To serve the Lord, David wanted to be with God in His house—the temple. He wanted to be where he knew the presence of the Lord resided. Why? Because in the presence of the Lord is holiness, peace, understanding, and the fulfillment of our greatest desire—to be in a right relationship with God. 

While in the house of the Lord seeking to serve Him, David could get clarity of thought with one purpose, without being pulled in the many directions a king is asked to make decisions. He could focus on God without the world pulling on him. David could hear the voice of God’s directions without clamor. That brings peace and understanding. 

Being with God and gazing on His face brings stillness, quiet, and fulfillment of our most inborn desire, to be in relationship with the Lord and to see and to serve Him.  No fear of death. No fear from the world. Just peace, joint purpose, and reverence. That’s what David meant when he wrote he wanted one thing: to seek to serve the Lord by being in His temple, gazing on Him, and contemplating Him. 

How can we serve the Lord now? Do we truly want to be in God’s presence, or do we only want His approval for what we want to do or already do. We can only truly be in God’s holy presence by being made righteous by His Son Jesus. We can feel the pull towards God and go to a quiet place seeking Him—in the forest, by the sea, in a church—but until we believe in Jesus and, thereby, are made clean from sin (be made righteous), we cannot be in the presence of God. We cannot behold the beauty of His face. His Spirit pulls us towards God with the conviction to follow Him to quiet places. Until we heed that pull and recognize and submit to God’s calling us to be in a righteous relationship with Him by believing in Jesus, we cannot see His face, only be drawn to Him. 

Following the convictions placed on your heart, the pulling of the Holy Spirit on you, and submitting yourself to God by believing in Jesus to be saved, leads you to want more than God’s approval for what you do. It leads you to do what God wants done.

So, how can you serve the Lord now? Believe in Jesus and be saved. Seek God in His quiet places; seek His face. Seek to know and do His will. Dwelling in the house of the Lord daily is being with Him like this. Seeking and being with God. Revering Him. Listening for His will and commands. Praising Him for His direction and what He has done. Going from there but not from Him to show Him through your being to the people with whom you meet that day. 

Do you go into your day without having seen God’s face? I encourage you to be with Him first so people will experience God through you. Without that time, there’s a greater chance people will only experience you not God.