The last time we met we explored the following question that Joshua posed to the people:
“If you don’t want to serve the God of Israel,
then whom WILL you serve?”
Like all good questions, we have to understand the context in which it was delivered.
In the case, the context was that Israel had with their own eyes witnessed the incredible works of their awesome God.
They had been rescued from slavery in Egypt.
They had seen their enemies conquered.
And now they had been given rest in their own land according to the promise God first made to Abraham.
There wasn’t anything theoretical or abstract about Israel’s experience with God.
In other words, Israel’s current condition is that they are ALREADY saved and now living in the midst of God’s grace.
Israel’s situation is kinda similar to ours, if you think about it.
Why?
Because as believers we have also experienced God’s grace.
Which means we both know Him and have been saved by Him.
I want you to think about that for a moment.
Joshua is speaking to saved folks here and the question he’s asking them is…
“Which god will you serve?”
Don’t you find that kinda odd?
That Joshua would ask a saved people which god they have the intention of serving?
I mean isn’t it kinda obvious?
The takeaway here is that Joshua is actually posing the very question you and I and every other believer is faced with every moment of every day of our lives.
That is the degree of freedom the Creator of the whole universe has given us.
We have the freedom to leave the Lord behind and go off and serve another god if we want to.
Of course, the Lord doesn’t want us to to do that.
But the option to do that is there.
Honestly, this possibility scares the heck out of me.
Because, if we want, we absolutely can turn our backs on the one who has called us to salvation.
That is why, day by day, we have to follow after Joshua’s example and affirm to ourselves and to a world hostile to the things of God that…
…“As for me and my house we will follow the Lord”.
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