A choice we must make

One of my favourite Old Testament characters is a man named Joshua. He succeeded Moses as the leader of ancient Israel after the former’s death.

Moses lead the Israelites to freedom from slavery in Egypt. He led them to Mt. Sinai, where God gave them a code of moral, economic, social and religious laws they were to obey. Moses built a place where the people could come to worship God and offer the required sacrifices to atone for their sins. He also set up a system of civil government to enforce God’s laws and lead the people to the eastern border of the Promised Land.

Just before he died, Moses appointed Joshua as his successor. Under his leadership, the Israelites entered the Promised Land and conquered all of the major cities within their borders. That took almost 40 years.

Joshua’s final act was to divide the land into 12 provinces and assign them to the different families (also known as tribes or clans) as

Neil Strohschein

God directed. Then, having completed all God asked of him, he died at the age of 110.

But before he died, he shared one final message with his people. They had a choice to make; and how they chose would determine their national future.

Joshua was no dummy. Observations made during his 80 years in various leadership roles (40 of them as Moses’ successor) had revealed a serious problem in the nation. Their devotion to God was being slowly eroded. Little by little, they were being lured to turn away from God and worship the deities of the nations among whom they lived. For some, the lure was too strong to resist. They served God; but they also served the gods of their non-Israelite friends and neighbours. That was not acceptable to God or Joshua.

After identifying the problem, Joshua warned them of the consequences they would face if they continued this practice. And then he issued this challenge. “Make up your mind,” he said. “Choose who you will serve. Choose now; but choose wisely, because you and your descendants will have to live with the consequences of your choice.”

To their credit, the people chose to put away their foreign gods and faithfully follow and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). The opening verses of the book of Judges tell us that they served God all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua. But after that, when faced with the same choices their ancestors had faced, they chose differently and they suffered accordingly. To get the full story, I would suggest that you read through the Old Testament book of Judges.

If Joshua could stand among us today, he would call us out for having made gods of ourselves and for thinking that we can go our own way, do our own thing, make our own rules and live by them; and he would warn us of the danger that awaits us if we continue on this path.

Then he would ask us to choose who we will serve. He would give us two options. We could serve the eternal, unchanging God who is revealed in the pages of the Holy Bible; or we can serve one of the many gods we have made. That is a choice that each of us must make. No one can make it for us. But we must choose wisely. We and those who come after us will have to live with the consequences of that choice.