Closing Remarks

“A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, ‘I am now old and well advanced in years. And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.  Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised. Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God…

“You know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord promised concerning you. All have come to pass.'” Joshua 23:1-11,14b

With limited time and opportunity left in his full life, Joshua was deliberate in his closing charge to the nation he led. Life always was, and would be, and should be, about their Lord. He it was who had delivered them, led them into Canaan, and fought for them in giving them the land. (Joshua 24:1-8,11-13)

We prioritize and communicate what means most to us. Each day, we can put on lenses of schedule and must, or of God’s higher perspective. The way we see will dictate what we value and are compelled to convey. Obedience to God’s call in His enabling effects experiencing His might, provision, and victories, and His glory cannot be contained.

When I have opportunity to make a claim, to give remarks in a situation that only God knows would ever come again, what do I deem vital to say? Is my mind so enmeshed with Christ’s, do my passions reverberate with holy love and devotion, that I cannot help but speak of His goodness, faithfulness, worthiness to be followed and obeyed and praised?

If there is an ounce of haughtiness, self-desert, or smugness, I rob Him of His rightful glory and mislead those I address. But the Lord gives us daily chance to eschew pride and the adoration of our depraved passions and idols, to cling to Him and be to Him a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. Which will it be? (Isaiah 42:8; Jeremiah 13:9-11)

Lord, keep it my highest priority to be careful to love You and to point others to You.