Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Joshua 22:5).

Joshua gave this charge to the people of Israel at the height of their conquests and near the end of his commission to lead them. Of all the things he emphasized, his concern was not leadership, management, strategy, or logistics. His concern was that they do their utmost to remain faithful to the LORD.

I am reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Isn't Joshua's charge to Israel also the Lord's charge to us today? What is important is our relationship to the LORD, not our success, not our jobs, not our families. These are only important as they are outworkings of our faithfulness to God. 

As the Lord reminds me today, so I remind you, 'Seek the LORD, His will, His glory!'

So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God (Joshua 23:11).

Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth (Joshua 24:15).

In Joshua's final charge to the children of Israel, he exhorted them to be diligent and earnest in fearing, loving, and serving the LORD. But as our brother, Stephen, has observed, Joshua also made the observation that they "will not be able to serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:19). Even so, he still gave the charge to obey. The people's inability to perfectly obey God's commands did not nullify God's requirement to do so. The expectation was still that the people would give every effort to obey, even though this effort would not be sufficient to gain them a right standing with God. 

But what kind of effort was expected of them? Consider what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 6:5-9,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

They were expected to love the LORD with their whole selves. To this end they were commanded to immerse themselves in the Law of God, so that they were always talking about it, thinking about it, and in every way being reminded of it. In this way, they would learn to love God with their whole selves.

Since the command to love God with our whole selves is both a New Covenant command as well as an Old Covenant command, might not the approach given to pursue such obedience also apply to Christians today? We too ought to immerse ourselves in the Word of God. Ancient Israel only had the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, but we have the whole counsel of Scripture, the sixty-six books that constitute our inspired and inerrant Bible. 

Do you want to  know how to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength? Immerse yourself in the Word of God, so that you are always talking about it, thinking about it, and in every way being reminded of it. Yet, by doing all this, do not imagine that you have a right standing with God. That is only accomplished by God's grace through the finished work of Christ on the cross.

But the best that we can do in this life is to fully and only trust in Christ for our salvation even as we diligently study and obey His Word. 

“So be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the Book of Instruction. Do not deviate from it, turning either to the right or to the left. Make sure you do not associate with the other people still remaining in the land. Do not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or serve them or worship them. (Joshua 23:6, 7 NLT)

In our quest for truth, sometimes we feel that we need to know everything about everything. But who has the time? And the Scriptures teach, "Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought" (1 Corinthians 8:2). Likewise, we are always at risk of thinking we have found our way when we are still lost. As we learn from other Scriptures: "If any of you think you are something when you are nothing, you deceive yourselves" (Galatians 6:3). And again, we read, "If any of you think that you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become fools so that you may truly become wise" (1 Corinthians 13:18). Perhaps we need to gain discernment as much as truth. And it is this discernment that I want to encourage today.

I have often encouraged the pursuit of truth in my witness. I have done so based on my conviction that all truth is God's truth. But I know that not all truth is of equal value. The truth about how to throw a ball is not as significant as the truth about how one can please God. My hope is that in a person's pursuit of truth, they would discover the highest truth, namely, God's Word. So Jesus also prays for the disciples, "Sanctify them in Your truth. Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). And Jesus also taught that "If you hold to my teaching... Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). Now, in the Proverbs, we read,

And if you look for it (i.e. understanding) as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure, 
then you will understand the fear of the LORD (Proverbs 2:4-5).

But in this quest for understanding, as greater truth is discerned, it is necessary for a person to focus their pursuit, so that they are giving more time, attention and energy to the greater truths and not equal time, attention and energy to everything. For example, if you knew that a certain exercise yields better, faster and more healthful results than another, wouldn't you give more time to that exercise over others? Some techniques achieve some goals better than others. Some insights are more helpful than others in achieving financial freedom. Some types of giving to charities or ministries are more responsible and wise than others. When you hunt for treasure, you narrow down the locations of where the treasure might be. When you have done this and found the specific location for it, you don't keep looking at other locations. No, you begin to dig at that specific location. You dig down and all around so that you don't miss any of it. 

For the people of Israel, God revealed Himself to them and made it abundantly clear that He was the only God and that there were no other gods but Him. Therefore, there was no need for them to inquire after other gods. To do so would only cause them and future generations to stumble. It was more important for them to spend their time, attention and energy in knowing the will of the one, true God so that they would carefully obey everything He commanded them.

Friends, have you come to know the LORD as God, even Jesus as your only Savior? Have you come to understand that the Bible is the only sure and authoritative revelation of God's will for man? If so, consider what you are giving your time, attention and energy to every day. Let us repent and worship the Lord alone.

The quarter of this year is going to pass by soon and we're finishing up the sixth book of the OT.  Let us encourage each other to continue to read the Word and renew our mind!

 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” 

Joshua here encouraged the Israelites to choose God for themselves.  Then he says,

“You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. ²⁰ If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” 

 Isn't it interesting that even though Joshua already knew that they would forsake the Lord and follow other gods, he still encouraged them to choose God?  Many people think and sincerely believe that salvation is a matter of whether we choose God or not when the invitation is given.  Joshua clearly says here that they cannot serve God, not that they will not serve God.  This is exactly what the apostle Paul says in Romans 9, "The sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God's Law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."  His sovereign will for the salvation is everywhere in the Bible.  Let's continue to uphold the truth by reading and learning everyday from God's Word!

Sherry wrote...The book of Johua is about obedience.  I never knew how much emphasis was on obedience until I started this Bible study.  Joshua was a brillant military leader but the key to his success was his submission to God.  Joshua's obedience was a model and as a result Israel remainned faithful to God.  Joshua is a good example for us as leaders in our organization.  Our students will model our strenghts and weaknesses. Reading Joshua has helped me make a fresh commitment to obey God.

Yujin comments...Amen, Sherry! From beginning to end the command is to carefully obey God. And Joshua embraced this command from beginning to end. He is a true hero for us all. I would like to think that this arose out of signficant time worshiping God. There is a small verse in Exodus 33:11, where we read, "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent." We often marvel at the first part and often miss the second. Moses would go into the tent to speak with the LORD. Here we see that when Moses left, Joshua chose to remain. Considering his unfettered obedience to God throughout the whole course of his life, as presented to us in Scripture, perhaps we are given here a little clue as to what made it so. Like Mary in the Gospels, who chose to sit at Jesus' feet, Joshua chose to linger with God. Could there be a message for us as well?