Do you ever get hit with the reality that time moves fast? You are just caught up in the demands of the day, moving from one schedule to the next, driving this person here and that person there and don’t really have time to process what is going on. You remind yourself that all these activities are good things and in order to give my children a better life, I must sacrifice and just persevere through the whirlwinds of life because we will one day make it. Make it where I wonder? Life gets full fast and I am learning that if we are not careful, choices get made for us. Or we make choices according to our defaults which is usually rash and not thought through and what seems best for the moment or satisfies our flesh temporarily.
Joshua faithfully carried out Moses’ vision, the covenant God made with Abraham to bring God’s chosen people into a land of their own. The people of Israel had conquered the land and where claiming their spots according to their tribe. God had moved before them and fought battles on their behalf and provided more than what was necessary to establish them well as a nation. After seeing God work with their own eyes, after experiencing the consequences of not obeying God’s ways, after being restored to God again and again, the people were left with this final charge.
“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you swell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. ” (Joshua 24.14-15)
Even after the LORD had done all the work, He did not press Himself on the people and force them into relationship. He always invites and gives a choice. But it is clear that you either choose to walk with the Lord according to His ways or you choose for yourself another path creating your god.
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.” (Joshua 24.16-18)
This is a daily choice. To remember what the Lord has done, makes it easy to see clearly. But when I let the distractions of the day or the temptations of my flesh fill my mind, I easily have chosen other things. Today, I will put my trust in the Almighty!
Just Walking 