Choose and then God Will Choose

There comes a time to choose the god you serve, making a clear choice for all to see.   This need is what caused Joshua to call the Children of Israel to Shechem.  There he recounts their history from the time of captivity in Egypt to the present moment, giving them the word of the Lord which made it expressly clear the Lord, Himself, had delivered into their hands the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canannites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.  Joshua also reminded the people how the Lord had used the “hornet” (the “drone” of that day) to drive out two of the kings of the Amorites (Joshua 24:11, 12).  Speaking the Word of the Lord, Joshua continued, “And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you built  not, and you dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which you planted not, do you eat” (Joshua 22:13).

Given these indisputable facts of God’s goodness to the people, some were still worshipping false gods which they had been harboring for years.  In effect Joshua says, “You can’t have it both ways.  You can’t worship Jehovah God—for He is a holy God and jealous--and the gods you brought over from Egypt.  You must choose whom you will serve—and do it today!"  (That’s asking for the sale.  Moreover, that’s life--making choices now!)  To encourage them Joshua said it doesn’t matter what you do, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15b).

On that notable day at Shechem the people chose God saying, “The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey” (Joshua 24:24).  Their choice was highlighted with setting up a huge, memorial stone.

Would that Israel had followed through, generation after generation, following God, but their faithfulness lasted only until Joshua died, then waxed and waned.  Yet God’s desire for His people in every generation is the same, “He shall choose our inheritance for us” (Psalm 47:4a).

Israel’s pattern need not be ours.  Why not be tender-hearted?  Why not be submissive to the Holy Spirit’s leading?  Why not yield to the Lord at every point—and let Him delightfully “choose our inheritance for us?”  Said the prophet Jeremiah we’re not qualified to choose our own way, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself:  it is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (10:24).  So, who shall direct our steps? The Scriptures quickly answer, "The steps off a good man are ordered by the Lord:  and He (the Lord) delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23).  Is this not a comforting assurance?

Are you struggling to put one foot ahead of the other?  Why not let the Lord direct your steps? Choose this day whom you will serve! “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”