IT’S ABOUT CHOICE
OBSERVATION:
JOSHUA WAS ISRAEL’S MILITARY AND POLITICAL LEADER. BORN A SLAVE IN EGYPT HE LATER BECAME ISRAEL’S LEADER TO THE LAND OF CANAAN. HE CONTINUALLY URGED GOD’S PEOPLE TO OBEY THE LORD. SOME SCHOLARS CONSIDER HIM A TYPE OF CHRIST. THIS STUDY HAS MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THE MOSAIC COVENANT GIVEN THE JEWS AS THEY
PROCEEDED TO THE PROMISE LAND.
INTERPRETATION:
READ JOSHUA 24: 19-25.
POINTS TO PONDER:
JOSHUA WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE MOSAIC COVENANT. BECAUSE THE JEWS HAD FAILED TO OBEY THE COVENANT HE WANTED REASSURANCE THEY WOULD KEEP AND OBEY THE COVENANT IN THE FUTURE. HE ASSURES THEM THEY ARE WITNESSES AGAINST THEMSELVES IF THEY VIOLATE THE COVENANT.
OBEDIENCE IS ALWAYS AN ISSUE WITH BELIEVERS. GOD EXPECTS THEM TO LISTEN, LEARN HIS WAYS AND OBEY HIS WILL AND WAY. HE EXPECTS BELIEVERS TO BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. IT IS NOT NECESSARILY EASY TO DO. CHRIST SAID TO PICK UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW HIM (LUKE 9:23). THIS IS ABSOLUTE SURRENDER; AN ISSUE A BELIEVER CONTINUALLY STRUGGLE WITH.
JOSHUA WANTED COMMITMENT WITH FULL UNDERSTANDING THAT ANYTHING LESS WAS DISOBEDIENCE. HE CHALLENGED THEM TO LOOK HONESTLY INTO THEIR HEARTS.
APPLICATION:
FOLLOWING CHRIST IS A CHOICE AND A MANDATE. YOU ARE SELF-CONDEMNED IF YOU CHOOSE YOUR WAY!
