In the book of Joshua, we learned how Joshua said to the people of Israel, “if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”, and in chapter twenty-four and verse sixteen of Joshua, the people of Israel said, “God forbid that we should forsake the LORD”, where we read,
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD,
to serve other gods;
The verse reads, “And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, …” Joshua or the writer began with the words, “and the people answered” which means “and the human beings belonging to Israel responded as a witness, gave testimony” “and said” or “ and uttered, declared and proclaimed”, “God forbid” which means “far be it from us or let it not be” “that we should forsake the LORD” or “that we, the people of Israel, leave, depart from , abandon, neglect or apostatize Jehovah who is the existing One and the proper name for the One True God”. Joshua or the writer shared how the people responded to Joshua by declaring that leaving and neglecting Jehovah God was to be far from them.
The verse continues, “to serve other gods;” Joshua or the writer added the words, “to serve” which means “to worship, labor and work for” “other gods” or “further and different deities”. Joshua or the writer shared how the people of Israel said they would not abandon Jehovah God to “labor and work” for different deities.
When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how the people of Israel responded to Joshua telling them to “choose you this day whom you will serve”. Their response was that it was to be far from them to worship and work for some other deity. Joshua’s question and the people’s answer is relevant to us. We have the opportunity to “choose” whether we will “serve” Jehovah God who sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was raised from the dead after three days, or we can “choose” to “serve” some other deity in the world.When we put our faith and trust in Jesus as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and equip us with His Holy Spirit who will lead and guide us in our lives. If we put our faith and trust in some other deity, our sins will not be forgiven and we will not receive eternal life with God. (See John 14:6) The choice is ours, and everyone will give an account of the choice they have made. (See Romans 14:12) Choose wisely.
Next time Joshua shares how the people of Israel say, “the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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