Do you want to serve the Lord?

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

I love that after hearing masses of stuff about God’s provision for them, keeping all his promises, God’s people got another chance to review their covenant commitment to him.

Joshua makes it clear that these people are not deciding on a sudden opportunity like an impulse purchase. They are not being asked to sign up to a consumer agreement for divine supplies which have more features and benefits than other contracts available.

Rather they are already part of a long-running line of God’s people. They were born into the family. And yet, with all the love in the world, they still have a choice. Do they want this?

Was Joshua speaking prophetically, a cynic, or written up later with the benefit of hindsight? In any case, he knew that Israel could not keep its covenant. “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God,” he said. God certainly knew this too, and yet this is what it was all for – to draw his people closer, invite them to join him in kingdom building.

They would seem to fail. Israel would split and be exiled, its riches carried off by neighbouring kings with foreign gods. But not before God was glorified through many people of faith and the family line continued as far as Jesus, the saviour they needed.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God is faithful and does lots for his people. He needs us to remember this - not just the idea of it, but specific things he has done. He knew that we would need a reminder of the big hope he has called us to, that we can live with him as Lord, even though it looks unlikely that we can accept this without help.

Thankfully, he has also given us more than the law and stories of people's past faithfulness to help. With Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can know what it is to have fullness of life in his kingdom, even in an imperfect world which needs to be reclaimed. This passage reminds me of how much we need that, otherwise our best intentions and promises aren't going to stand up on their own.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I am thankful for how much God has done for me by grace, just as Joshua reminded Israel about "a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build..." I want to increase my awareness of his grace, so that I don't confuse it with what I think I've achieved myself, and echo Joshua’s promise that "as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Who am I going to share this with?

My family as we build our sense together of what God has done for us and through us.