Joshua 24:15
Pastor Tim has invited us to catch the vision, this year, of an awakening. It’s a spiritual awakening that God intends to take place within us personally (HEART), within our families (HOME), within our congregation (CHURCH), and our community (CITY). As we engage, together, in this journey, we must realize that there is a decision to be made. It is the same decision that Joshua invited the children of Israel to as recorded in Joshua 24.
This was a people that had wandered in the wilderness for a generation for abandoning their trust in God. They had turned their back on the God who had made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make them His chosen people and deliver them to a promised land.
Now, here they were, standing before Joshua, having experienced the miraculous way God had brought them into the promised land and delivered Jericho into their hands. Joshua declared to them, again, the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God who had delivered again and again. He rehearsed the miracles performed, the battles won, the provision given, and, more than anything, he called them to recognize that God had not abandoned. He had fulfilled His promise.
Now. They have a choice. They must DECIDE. Will they serve their God in faithfulness or return to the error of those who fell in the wilderness? Will they abandon the false gods that had been worshiped as their ancestors wandered, lost, or would they worship the one true God.
choose for yourselves this day who you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve THE LORD.
That’s easy, right. The picture we have in the scripture is one of exuberant declaration of intent. In fact, the people declared back to Joshua the faithfulness of God, placing an exclamation point with this statement, “far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other Gods!” What followed can be described as a psalm of deliverance, recognizing that God’s power alone brought this people from slavery to freedom, from fear to assurance, from danger to safety within His care.
we, too, will serve the Lord, because HE IS OUR GOD!
Most any preacher would have closed in prayer, then, and took an offering. BUT, no, Joshua was not going to let up. I can imagine a dramatic pause, Joshua’s gaze sweeping across the crowd before him. Then, with all the love he could muster, he pierced what had to have been an emotional bubble that had swelled across the crowd.
You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a Holy God; a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins when you turn back to your false idols. If you forsake Him, He will bring disaster upon you and make an end to you…even though He has been so good to you.
This is a serious thing, folks. Joshua was not being hard-headed or hard-hearted. He was not making this harder than it had to be. He was cutting to the heart of why so many so easily supposedly choose to follow God and wash out a week later when the going gets tough.
A spiritual awakening is not about an emotionally charged invitation, followed by a quick decision and declaration that can be recorded on a card or hung on a peg. We have become all too comfortable playing that game, riding the middle, dipping our toes into the holy a couple of times a week and spending the rest of our week swimming in unrighteousness.
Joshua was saying, “ENOUGH!” God was saying, “ENOUGH!” The people were saying,
NO, we will serve the LORD!
To paraphrase, Joshua said, “Is that so? You are accountable, then. Repent of your wickedness. Throw away the false gods and YIELD YOUR HEARTS TO THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL!”
and the people said to Joshua, ‘we will serve the Lord our God and obey Him!
An awakening happened. The covenant was renewed. It was recorded and affirmed. An altar stone was placed as a witness. The people were then dismissed to their inheritance.
What’s your DECISION? Who will you serve?
Are you prepared to DECLARE with confidence to bear witness of your faith in God and His faithfulness?
What is to follow, then? Will your life be evidenced through your DEVOTION to daily yield your heart to the Lord, our God?
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!