One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Joshua 24. Joshua is about to die at 110 years of age and before he goes he gives the Israelites one last piece of advice. He reminds them of their history up to that point and reminds them of everything Yahweh has done to bring them to where they are in the Promised Land. Then in verse 14 he gives them a choice. Choose whom you will serve. He tells them the famous line, “as for me and my family, we will serve Yahweh.” Joshua goes on to tell of what will happen if they turn away from Yahweh and the people once again say they choose Yahweh. Today each of us has the same choice to make. And each choice comes with consequences.
Joshua chapter 24
Jos 24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem. He called the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they came into the presence of God.
Jos 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, has to say: ‘Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. One of those ancestors was Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor.
Jos 24:3 Then I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land across the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
Jos 24:4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Edom as his possession, but your ancestor Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
Jos 24:5 Later I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought great trouble on Egypt. But I led you out;
Jos 24:6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and cavalry. But when your ancestors got to the Red Sea
Jos 24:7 they cried out to me for help, and I put darkness between them and the Egyptians. I made the sea come rolling over the Egyptians and drown them. You know what I did to Egypt. ” ‘You lived in the desert a long time.
Jos 24:8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought you, but I gave you victory over them. You took their land, and I destroyed them as you advanced.
Jos 24:9 Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you.
Jos 24:10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you, and in this way I rescued you from Balak.
Jos 24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them all.
Jos 24:12 As you advanced, I threw them into panic in order to drive out the two Amorite kings. Your swords and bows had nothing to do with it.
Jos 24:13 I gave you a land that you had never worked and cities that you had not built. Now you are living there and eating grapes from vines that you did not plant, and olives from trees that you did not plant.’
Jos 24:14 “Now then,” Joshua continued, “honor Yahweh and serve Him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only Yahweh.
Jos 24:15 If you are not willing to serve Him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the LORD.”
Jos 24:16 The people replied, “We would never leave Yahweh to serve other gods!
Jos 24:17 Yahweh our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that He performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed.
Jos 24:18 As we advanced into this land, Yahweh drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve Yahweh; He is our God.”
Jos 24:19 Joshua said to the people, “But you may not be able to serve Yahweh. He is a holy God and will not forgive your sins. He will tolerate no rivals,
Jos 24:20 and if you leave Him to serve foreign gods, He will turn against you and punish you. He will destroy you, even though He was good to you before.”
Jos 24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve Yahweh.”
Jos 24:22 Joshua told them, “You are your own witnesses to the fact that you have chosen to serve Yahweh.” “Yes,” they said, “we are witnesses.”
Jos 24:23 “Then get rid of those foreign gods that you have,” he demanded, “and pledge your loyalty to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”
Jos 24:24 The people then said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God. We will obey His commands.”
Jos 24:25 So Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow.
Jos 24:26 Joshua wrote these commands in the book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak tree in Yahweh’s sanctuary.
Jos 24:27 He said to all the people, “This stone will be our witness. It has heard all the words that Yahweh has spoken to us. So it will be a witness against you, to keep you from rebelling against your God.”
Jos 24:28 Then Joshua sent the people away, and everyone returned to their own part of the land.
Jos 24:29 After that, Yahweh’s servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of a hundred and ten.
Jos 24:30 They buried him on his own land at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
Jos 24:31 As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served Yahweh, and after his death they continued to do so as long as those leaders were alive who had seen for themselves everything that Yahweh had done for Israel.
Jos 24:32 The body of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought from Egypt, was buried at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph’s descendants.
Jos 24:33 Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, the town in the hill country of Ephraim which had been given to his son Phinehas.
I woke up at 2:20 a.m. with this writing on my mind. Yahweh is telling His people today the same thing that Joshua told them all those many years ago. Choose this day whom you will serve, the gods of this world, or Him. I think of all the commandments and of the hundreds of them there are two that are the most difficult for me. The first two.
Exodus 20:2-7
Exo 20:2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Exo 20:3 “You have no other mighty ones against My face.
Exo 20:4 “You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth,
Exo 20:5 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, Yahweh, your God am a jealous God, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exo 20:6 but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands.
Exo 20:7 “You do not bring the Name of Yahweh your God to naught, for Yahweh does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.
Putting Yahweh first above all other things and not making idols of anything on earth that would come before Him. Seems so simple yet those are the two that make me stumble the most. The gods of this world are many. They suck you in and before you even know it there you are breaking His Commands.
The world’s gods
I look back on my life and cringe at the things I have put before Him. The gaining of wealth, status in society, what others think of me, pride, having the admiration of others, what I drive or the house where I live, my accomplishments, etc. All of those are based on what others think rather than what He thinks. I have put those things above Him. They are the gods of this world. Money, status, stuff… all so others think more or better of me. How much I have strived to make a life that was not based upon Him but upon the gods of this world. Those pretty shiny objects that are dangled in front of us as if to say, do this, or buy this, or have this, and you will be happy. Or thinking that what others think of me is more important than what He thinks.
That is it in a nutshell as they say. Because although the gods of this world tell you that you can be happy if… fill in the blank, life is not about being happy. There is a difference between happiness and peace. Happiness is fleeting. It comes and goes with the next new thing. What I crave as I get older, and perhaps wiser, is peace. Simply knowing that I am His and He is mine. Having His love and acceptance makes all those worldly gods insignificant. That is the peace that the apostle Paul calls the peace that surpasses all understanding. Where Paul could be in prison, in chains, yet still sing hymns to Yahweh and write the letter to the Philippians which is all about joy in spite of circumstances.
When I let go of the gods of this world and focus on the One True God, the Creator of everything, Yahweh, nothing else comes close to the peace I feel. No one can take His place. No object or no person’s opinion of me matters anymore. It also makes me brave. Brave enough to write the truth and not be concerned about what people will think of me. The truth is what matters. Yahweh is who matters.
The end is near
This world age is coming to a close. Most can feel it. As if we are on the brink of something. These are the times the Bible tells us about. The time of the end of this age. An accounting is coming. There is no avoiding it. Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t matter. Whether you believe the end is near or not does not matter. It will be what will be whether any of us want it or not. There is an evil to this world that will not relent until and unless they conquer all. They will not go quietly into the night. Unless it is to come again another day. The only way good will win is for Yahweh to step in and save us. We need to put Him first in our lives. Every day. Choose Yahweh as our God. Put away all the false gods of this world and choose the one true God, Yahweh.
I know how easy it is to get caught up in the day to day trying to make ends meet. That is designed by Satan to distract us from what is really important. If we are concentrating on getting through life we will never have the real peace of Yahweh.
No matter how much time is left in this age, for me, I will choose Yahweh and the peace that comes along with that choice over anything the world has to offer.
This is Simply My Opinion,
Kathe
www.adoptioncombatzone.com