You had one job!

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?

Everything starts well! We’re picking up the story of Israel moving into the promised land at a point where Moses’ successor Joshua has just finished doing a decent, faithful job of following God’s way into the land where his kingdom would be established. As he prepared to die, he did what he saw Moses do, gathering the nation and renewing their covenant commitment to walk with God and obey his laws. (See the end of the book of Joshua!)

Fuelled with faith, Israel consulted God and followed his direction, resulting in victory after victory. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, there’s a story to tell about that. Actually, quite a few stories, some pretty gory, tragic, even horrific. Spoiler alert: the explanation for this is right at the end of the book. But you might be able to guess without flicking to the end of chapter 21. Want to play along?

The first clues for why the wheels started to drop off the kingdom faith wagon are in the latter half of chapter 1. God had been pretty clear about driving out the Canaanites and helping when asked. But look how many Canaanites are still there, and for how many different reasons, according to the various tribes.

The unity Israel had under Joshua’s leadership turned into a mishmash of local issues, compromises, faithlessness and defeat. I love how God intervened, nevertheless, with saviour leaders, “judges”, who could rescue people from the pain of enemy oppression, but it turned out that turning people’s hearts back to God was a much, much harder job.

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

God’s establishment of a people in a promised land included laws to guide them, but also the freedom to break them and see what happened. He helped the nation go his way when they wanted this. God had also warned about what would happen if people went their own ways instead.

Today, as then, people make choices and respect leadership to varying degrees. But rather than control and force people to do what he wants, God shows fatherly love.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

Thank God for his love and leadership, and reflect on the fact that God allows me to make mistakes – not all my choices are good. How honest am I with myself and him about this? I want to follow Jesus faithfully, so I need to check with him about what I need to change.

Who am I going to share this with?

My family and other people I follow Jesus with.