Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. “
Who would you say figures most prominently in Israel’s history? Joshua? Moses? Abraham? Jacob? Well, by just reading the first thirteen verses of Joshua 24, you cannot help but find the answer! If I counted correctly, you find the personal pronoun Iseventeen times in those verses; the I in those verses is the “I AM”. God figures most prominently in Israel’s history!
Who is the most prominent person in your history? If you can’t see His story in your history, you are not likely to follow God in the future. That is the obvious point of Joshua 24! We are living in a day when, like in Joshua’s day, it seems “evil . . . to serve the LORD.” People are calling evil “good” and good “evil.” If you believe what the Bible says, you will be labeled as bigoted, hateful, and evil. However, the choice of who to serve is your decision alone-you have to decide. If you fail to see God in your own history, you will likely fail to follow Him both now and later.
I love to ask people how they came to faith in Jesus Christ. You may not have been saved from a life of ruin and sin, but don’t overlook the obvious working of God in your life. When you leave God out of your history, you are swayed to follow something or someone else. Joshua called on the people to decide who-not if-they would follow. If you are going to follow God in the future, you must see His working in your past. That is what Joshua did in chapter 24, and that is what we must do as well.
Consider writing down or telling others what God has done in your life. If I were you, I would start with the people in my house and under my care! Is His story a part of your history?