Chapter 7: Reflection

Ya gotta love Joshua.  He made being faithful look easy, didn’t he?  God said to do it and Joshua did it.  

God said not to do it and Joshua didn’t do it.  

And look how God blessed him for his faithfulness. 

At the beginning of the chapter, God has a little chat with Joshua and tells him some of the blessings that are to come, and then God promises to be with him as He was with Moses.  

God says, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”  Then he tells him one more time, “Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (pg. 89). 

What an awesome promise God gives Joshua, and all Joshua has to do is be strong, courageous and obey, which is exactly what Joshua did.  Because Joshua was faithful, God gave him very specific instructions about how to deal with Jericho, Ai, the 5 kings of the Amorites, and all the royal cities.  As a result of his following God’s instructions, we read:  “So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses” (pg. 99). 

It is clear that the result of faithfulness is blessing.  

So why doesn’t everyone just obey God and receive God’s blessings?  Why aren’t we faithful all the time so that we can receive God’s blessings?  It seems simple enough, doesn’t it?  Faithfulness = Blessings. 

The key is at the end of the chapter in Joshua’s address to the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel.  He tells them:  “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped…and serve the LORD.”  

Then Joshua gives them a choice:  “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (pg. 101).    Joshua says, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

There it is.  

We, too, have a choice every day.  

When you get out of bed every morning, you have a choice whom you will serve.  Will it be your boss when he/she asks you to do something just a little bit immoral?  Will it be your friends when they want you to do something you know your parents wouldn’t approve of?  Will it be the culture that is constantly challenging our Christian beliefs?  

OR…  will you make the decision each day:  “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”?  

Think about where the blessings come from and then choose carefully.

Chapter 6: Reflection

Wandering

At the end of Chapter 5, we read that “God taught them who he was and what he required of them,” (pg. 70) yet a number of times in chapter 6, God calls the Israelites a “stiff-necked people.”  

Why?  Because they believed…and then they didn’t….and then they did….and then they didn’t….(you get the picture!)  

God guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  He rescued them from slavery.  He performed miracles in their presence.  He was with them on their journey.

So they worshiped and celebrated all the time because God was with them, right?  NOT!  

Instead, they complained about their hardships.  They were hungry; they were thirsty.  They wanted food, so God gave them manna to eat. Were they grateful for that gift?  Sure, for like a minute!  Then they got sick of it and wanted meat to eat.  Don’t ya just love God’s response:  “Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it.  You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month – until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it.”  That ought to fix them!

No wonder God called them “stiff-necked” people.  

I (Tina) got to thinking about what God might call us today.  How about “wishy-washy”?  We are all about being grateful for what God is doing in our lives….until we, or someone in our family, get sick.  “Why me, God?”  We are all about singing praises to God and worshiping Him….and then we leave church and get back to “the real world.”  

Our culture has taken prayer out of schools, God out of our justice system and Jesus out of the center of our lives.  Do you stand up for your faith in the midst of these circumstances? 

Well, do you?  

Many times it’s much easier to go with the flow, isn’t it?  It’s much easier not to rock the boat, isn’t it?  Go ahead, be honest. 

Wishy-washy. 

We know what we’re supposed to do and not do.  We know what God expects of us.  And yet when we ask ourselves the question:  “Why do we still do those stupid things?”  we respond like Aaron in the cartoon above:  “I dunno.” 

Friends, let’s take from this chapter the challenge to step up our Christian game.  I challenge you to think of 3 ways that you can stand up for your faith this week; ways that you can take a stand for Jesus.  

I know you can do it!