But the people said to Y’hoshua,
“‘No, but we will serve Adonai.’
Y’hoshua said to the people,
‘You are witnesses against yourselves
that you have chosen Adonai, to serve him.’
They answered, ‘We are witnesses.’
‘Now,’ Y’hoshua urged,
‘put away the foreign gods you
have among you, and turn your hearts
to Adonai, the God of Israel.”
The people answered Y’hoshua,
“We will serve Adonai our God;
we will pay attention to what he says.'”
-Joshua 24:21-24
Joshua makes it clear to Israel that if they break faith with the One who saved them from bondage and with a mighty hand brought them into their own land inheritance, there will be hell to pay.
Literally.
God says He will not only harm them, He will also destroy them.
In fact, if He has to, He will reverse their salvation history.
Yet, the people remain unfazed in their response.
They insist they will NOT abandon the Lord their God.
I really get the feeling they don’t understand the gravity of the matter.
Here’s what’s important to grasp.
Pay attention to what the people did NOT say.
They did NOT promise they would forsake foreign gods.
Rather, they only promised NOT to abandon the Lord in favor of other gods.
It’s a huge distinction if you think about it.
Because in their minds, it meant it was okay to keep their pagan gods as long as they continued to worship HASHEM.
Can you see the whole problem with this?
It’s like a man promising to be faithful to his wife but in his mind he’s thinking it’s okay to sleep around with other women as long as he doesn’t divorce his current wife.
Folks, this is the problem Israel faced from the very first day after they left Egypt.
They were operating under the ridiculous assumption it was okay to flirt with other gods while remaining “faithful” to Hashem.
And folks, it wasn’t just ancient Israel.
It’s us as well.
We let so many things get in the way between us and the Lord.
We may not be harboring idolatrous figurines in our homes but we divide our attention between God and the temptations of this world.
I’m talking about the mad, almost diseased pursuit of money, sex and power.
I would say those are the big false gods of our age.
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