Choose - Joshua 24 :14-33

I can’t believe that I got through Joshua that fast, it feels like after all that time in the Torah, this was just really fast. Joshua recounts all the ways and different places that God has delivered Israel and now tells them to “fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth.” And here comes the super famous statement that Joshua makes but the popular saying is not the whole verse, but I think the whole thing together is more powerful and I think it needs to be taken in the context of the previous verse as well. Joshua says, “And therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and I truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the (river), and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seems 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 (river), or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I think that this statement is so much more powerful because it talks about all the other options.

I’ve noticed when people are trying to persuade someone to, I don’t know like turn to God and away from whatever that other person considers not righteous, they seem to focus on why that person should only worship God or why they should only go to our church but they omit a discussion or even mention of what the alternatives are. I think this does a disservice to the reasons that the other people are even considering this as options. I think the reasoning is that “if I mention it, they will get ideas that they wouldn’t have otherwise,” but that’s not true, or even if it is, true conversion must be built on a foundation that rejects other ways of thinking, not simply built on the ignorance of those alternatives, if that makes sense. The popular saying “choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” that’s good for a missionary plaque or a bumper sticker, but this statement begs the question, “well what are my options?” and that’s not enough to build a true conversion on. It’s a good enough place to start but it’s not a good enough foundation.

I really like how Joshua addresses the fact that there are options, they could worship the gods that their pagan ancestors did in Ur before Abraham, they could worship the gods of Egypt from when they were enslaved, they could worship the gods of the Amorites who also lived in their land. But Joshua rejects all those and instead chooses the God that had done such mighty works among them. It’s also interesting that Joshua mentioned those other gods and where they were from geographically because if Israel still adhered to the practice of believing that the gods were restricted to operate only in their geographic area then they would have to reject the Mesopotamian and Egyptian gods meaning the only valid gods for Canaan were either the Amorite gods or Israel’s current god, so really they had to choose between those two. Getting this concept out of the collective mind of Israel took hundreds of years and many generations and it’s just such an interesting commentary on human psychology. I take for granted how much I learn from studying the scriptures because all that is built on a foundation of what Christianity accepts as general principles such as monotheism, Jesus Christ as Messiah, Jesus Christ as Savior, Jesus Christ as the miraculously conceived sole Son of God, the creation, the fall, and the atonement, the Book of Mormon as scripture, the restoration of the gospel and the work of Joseph Smith, that we have living prophets today. Everything that I learn now, I build on the foundation of all those truths, but it took quite some time for those truths to be acknowledged and widely accepted throughout society to the point that my accepting and learning from them doesn’t lead to me being burned as a witch. I believe in Christianity, I believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I can build my knowledge and testimony on that, but it took 2,000 years for us to get to the point where that foundation is a possibility for me.

I don’t remember if I read it or if I saw a video about it, but it was basically the timeline of the historical events starting from the death of Christ that were necessary for the restoration to take place, and it was basically like the Pentecost, the apostles ministry, Constantine, the formation of the Catholic church, the proliferation of the Catholic church and longevity to the point that people became fed up with it, Martin Luther, Calvin, Tinsdale, Joan of Arc, Guttenberg, the pilgrims, the revolutionary war, then finally the restoration. Like all these things had to happen in order to the restoration of the gospel to come about to the degree that it could be successful for this dispensation. I always looked back for the last 2,000 years and thought “why did nothing happen that whole time,” and the answer is that lots of stuff was happening, building blocks one on top of another so that the modern day church can have a firm foundation. I don’t understand why all those things had to happen, I don’t know how they all fed into each other and honestly no one probably does know the extent of what went into it, but it look literally almost 2,000 years for the world to be prepared for the restoration of the gospel because so much preparation was necessary. Now I’m over here looking at my own life asking why things can’t just happen and the reason is because it’s not time. Why isn’t it time? Because not everything and everyone is ready for the next steps. Why does so much have to go into the preparation? I don’t know, I think that’s the hardest part is because I genuinely do not understand why all the prep work matters, like I understand some, but all of this? It’s exhausting and it’s hard, I don’t get it. But that’s the point, will I continue on even though it’s hard and I’m tired and sad and I don’t understand. It took thousands of years to get to this point spiritually, now God is also working to prepare for whatever the next step is, and I don’t like it, but I’ll stick with it.

That’s the main message of Joshua’s statement that I think is the most powerful, and that is “choose you this day.” I don’t think that I’ve understood the gravity of the word “choose.” With my problems that I’ve been having with my family recently, I’ve leaned so much on God to comfort and teach me and be there all the time, and He has been and I appreciate that. But it’s like I was/am being spoon fed and most of the time I needed that but there was an instance last week where I was really upset and I turned to God the way that I normally did and cried out for Him, but I got back nothing. I was surprised, that was so unusual and not what I felt like I needed. I was asking my usual things, “why?” “how much longer?” “what is this going to look like in the end?” I was waiting to hear something like “I got you,” “I’m taking care of this,” “this is all part of my plan,” but I didn’t hear any of that. As I was thinking about what changed and kind of despairing a little bit, the thought came to me that I needed to choose what I believed. I was waiting to hear God tell me what he’s told me a million times before, but this time I couldn’t be spoon fed that info, I had to decide if I believed it when He told me the last time. And if I believed that it was true that time, then I could choose to believe that it was still true now. It had to be my choice to believe it, I couldn’t sit on the fence of “it’s only true if God tells me for the millionth time,” and “none of its true because he’s not constantly telling me.” Which was it? Was it true when he told me last time, or is it only true if He tells me constantly. Because if it’s only true when I hear it constantly, then that’s not faith, that’s co-dependency, that’s a toxic relationship. He was trying to move me out of a toxic and constant need and into a place where I could stand in my own faith on my own two feet. At that moment I had to choose if I was going to stand in my own mind and believe the promises that God has made or am I not? Without His voice, do I continue to choose to believe or do I give up in despair? And when I’m being spoon fed by the Spirit, and sometimes I need it, there’s a passivity to it, I don’t have to make a decision, I don’t risk being wrong or doubting. But when I choose to continue to believe when the Spirit is silent, then I accept those risks, I make those choices, I have to stand in my own mind with what I really believe, and that’s scary, but it’s apparently necessary to progression.

There are several statements about the subject that I found powerful, one was “at some point, faith stops being about evidence and starts becoming about willingness.” When the Spirit was spoon feeding me, that was evidence, and there is definitely a place for that, and I don’t believe that it’s gone for me, but when it stopped and I had to sit in silence, I had to decide what I was willing to believe. It’s like it says in Helaman 6:35-36 “and thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts. And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words.” I feel like if I were to refuse to believe or be comforted unless I had constant companionship with the Spirit, then at that point I would be hardening my heart, refusing to believe unless God came to me on my terms. But by willingly believing, I was choosing to self-sooth based on previous teachings. Maybe that’s why the scriptures say over and over “remember,” that’s the evidence, remember the teachings, the promises, the comforts, remember them and build on them. When the time comes that you are doubtful or questioning, reach out to God for the answers, but if it doesn’t come right away, then choose to believe. Sit in that attitude for a minute, decide to continue to believe and see what happens.

Another saying I like, and I don’t remember where I read it, but it was pretty profound for me at the time, says, “I’m going to give you just enough evidence that it’s still a choice.” I feel like this is what Joshua is trying to get across to the Israelites at this point, there has been so much evidence but at this point they need to decide if they are going to continue to believe. You have all these signs and wonders that God has done for you across multiple locations, across a ton of time, will you believe? And it’s not necessarily a self-assessment, “was this enough to convince me?” We aren’t on a jury, we don’t have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt to believe in God. He provides enough evidence so that we still have to choose to obey, to believe, to try our best to be better every day. Alma says that perfect knowledge is not faith, and we are not here to gain a perfect knowledge, we are here to build faith. That’s what Joshua us saying, “you guys have to choose what you will believe and who you will obey.” It’s an active decision that we have to make every single day of our lives, but that’s where the growth is. The growth isn’t in being convinced by the Spirit, it comes as we decide to believe.

Much to Joshua’s relief, probably, the people of Israel answer his questions of whom they will serve, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord is our God.” Joshua’s next wording is kind of confusion because he says, “Ye cannot serve the Lord,” but he goes on to say that God is holy, and “jealous” and that he won’t forgive them if they turn away from Him, “if ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.” After all the good that He’s done for you, if you betray Him, He will destroy you. In other words, don’t enter into the choice lightly, know that there are real consequences for disobedience. The people say again that they choose to serve the God of Israel, “so Joshua made a covenant with the people that day,” I don’t think this is a new covenant like they did with Moses, but more like a renewal of the pervious one, a reaffirming. Joshua died, “being an hundred and ten years old,” and he was buried, and the people of Israel serve God all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that out lived Joshua.