I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Joshua 23. “The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God. But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you. Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so He will bring on you all the evil things He has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land He has given you” (Verses 9-16). When I was a kid my mom would say (it’s a Jamaican mom staple), “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.”Meaning that as easily as she gave, she can take away. The same principal holds true to God’s relationship with the children of Israel and with us today. How come? There were rules attached, “Follow Me, obey Me and I will give you rest.” As well as, “Disobey and go after other gods and I will cause your enemies to consume you.” Their obedience or disobedience would dictate God’s reaction. However, they can not complain, He told them over and over again. He gave them examples over and over again. At no point could they say, “But God we didn’t know. You never said…” The same is true for us, even more so. We have it in written form, we can see clearly the blessing of disobedience as well as the curse of disobedience. He gives us the opportunity to choose. Free will. Israel had it and so do we. This morning as I sit and read God’s word. I am blown away at that the thought that He even gives us an opportunity to choose, to have a choice. We are finite, selfish, and prone to disobedience, yet He still loves us. So much so He provided a way of escape for our sins, for our mistakes. The choice is ours, it always has been. But with free will comes great responsibility. Our choice will either lead us to blessings or to curses. But we can never say, we didn’t know. Don’t believe me? Look at Israel…