Joshua 23 – Brandon Hatmaker “We’ve Seen It”
Monday, August 25th, 2008
"You yourselves have seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the LORD your God who fought for you. Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. The LORD your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.” – Joshua 23:3-5
Here is where the big “therefore” comes into play. Over 400 times it’s used in the bible… while the word is not used in this passage… the heart of it is certainly there.
Joshua is saying, hey fella’s (and ladies), take a step back for a moment and see all that God has done for you. Seriously, don’t miss it. Take a moment and take it in. Count your blessings, if you will. Consider yourself blessed… and even favored. Now, in light of this… "Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written…” (vs.6)
God doesn’t just tell us to do stuff or to believe certain things because He can. He's not a bully. It’s always with purpose. It is always with Godly wisdom and reason, whether in correction or blessing. He asks us to respond… and not forget. In Leviticus he put it like this: “I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.”
In Deuteronomy He put it like this, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”
Jumping to the New Testament we see it in Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…”
Father, you took us from the position of slavery to being called sons and daughters of the King. Forgive us when we live and pursue life forgetting any of what You’ve done. Amen
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