Making the Right Choice
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Key Verse: “The people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.” Selected Scripture: |
OUR LIFE IS FULL OF choices. Some seem of little importance, whereas others seem greater. Yet, altogether, the choices we make in each aspect of our daily lives go a long way in determining the direction of our life as a whole. Making the right choices in life isn’t always simple but it requires constant vigilance and effort on our part.
The account of Joshua calling all the tribes of Israel to Shechem is one about making correct and well-thought-out choices, and then abiding by them. In this lesson, Joshua first reminds the people of Israel that before God began dealing with their forefather, Abraham, their ancestors served other gods.—Josh. 24:2
He then recounts how God had been with them and delivered them out of the land of Egypt, and subsequently out of the hands of many enemies. “Ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I [the Lord] delivered them into your hand.”—vs. 11
Joshua continues, by telling the people that now they must make a choice. They can either serve the gods of their ancestors before Abraham, the gods of their enemies, the gods of the Egyptians, or they can serve the Lord who delivered them from all these former conditions and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey. To Joshua the choice was clear. He says, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (vs. 15) The people followed his advice, and also claimed the Lord as their God saying, “Therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God.”—vs. 18
It is important to realize that when we make choices, especially concerning our relationship toward God, he expects us to abide by those choices, and to conduct ourselves in harmony with them. It was to this end that Joshua warned the Israelites about making their choice. He knew that they had failed to serve God in the past, and reminded them that to fail again after having made such a choice would bring severe punishment. He said: “If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.”—vs. 20
Let us each be sure in choosing to serve the Lord that we do so with all our heart, mind, and being. Nor should we harbor any thoughts of serving other ‘gods’—such as malice, envy, strife, anger—or to serve any other of the fallen fleshly tendencies we formerly obeyed. As the Apostle Paul says, “Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”—Eph. 4:22-24
May we be able to truly express the words contained in our Key Verse, ‘The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.’