Every day we make choices. Many of them do not have long-lasting importance, but some of them do. Some of our choices will affect our family for years to come, such as where we choose to live, where we will send our children to school. Probably the most important decision we will ever make will affect our family for generations, and that is what God we choose to worship. In our Scripture today we read of Joshua, in the closing years of his life, challenging the people as to which God they will serve. Let’s take a look.
Years earlier, shortly before the death of Moses, God had appointed Joshua to be the one to lead the Israelites across the Jordan River and on to the conquest of the Promised Land. Now, at the close of his life, Joshua gathered the people together to determine the course of their spiritual future. Moses was gone. He would soon be gone. He knew the people needed to make an important decision. Who or what they would worship was important. It would determine their future as a people.
There would be the temptation to worship the pagan gods of the Canaanites where they now lived. Some would remember the false gods of the Egyptians where they had been slaves for several hundred years. Going back even further, there were the pagan deities from the ancestors of Abraham (vs. 2). The River that Joshua referred to was the Euphrates. Abraham and his family had lived in Ur, a city near the southern end of that river. His father Terah had been a pagan, worshipping false gods. Moon worship was strong in that culture. Abraham would have been raised that way, until he came to follow Yahweh, the one true God.
The people had to decide whether they would obey the Lord, who had proven His trustworthiness, or pagan gods. We too must all make a choice as to who we will follow. Will we follow Jesus or other false religions of the world? Or will we follow a worldly, self-worshipping lifestyle?
That day Joshua made a very public stand for himself and his family. He and his family chose to follow and serve Yahweh (vs. 15). Regardless of what the other people would do, Joshua made a commitment to serve God. Joshua was faithful to the Lord. He was faithful in instructing his children and family in God’s Word, teaching his children, and later grandchildren all about Yahweh. We can’t just say that we want our family to follow God. It won’t just happen by happenstance. It is a deliberate choice we make with every decision and action of our life. We must teach our family to follow God. It won’t occur by chance. We must model our faith by example, praying for them, and instructing them in the Bible and ways of the Lord. This is what Joshua did when he said that he and his family would follow the Lord.
The people answered Joshua that they, too, would follow the Lord (vs. 16-18). Joshua heard their promises, but knowing the people as well as he did, knowing how they had been unfaithful to Yahweh in their hearts all throughout the wilderness wandering, he questioned their sincerity (vs. 19). God demands the believer’s total commitment to Him. That is only possible when we depend upon the Holy Spirit each and every day.
Talk is cheap. Joshua and his family committed themselves to follow Yahweh, and they were true to their word. The people of Israel made a similar commitment, but very quickly fell away. Within a very few short years after Joshua’s death they had plunged into idolatry. The whole Book of Judges records this sad saga.
To follow God requires destroying whatever gets in the way of truly worshipping Him (vs. 23). God is not satisfied if we merely hide these idols. We must completely destroy them, removing them from our lives. The Israelites did not do this. They left them up in their lives, where they could tantalize them and lure them back into their clutches. We cannot afford to let that happen in our life or in our family. Anything that comes between us, our family, and God must be removed and destroyed. Only then can we be sure our family will follow God.
Just as Joshua did, we are called to make a choice. Will we follow Jesus, some false religion, or the world? After death it will be too late to make a choice. If we haven’t chosen Jesus, then we have chosen Satan and hell. The choice is ours. We need to decide. We need to choose who we will serve.
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