So be very careful to love the LORD your God (Verse
11, NLT).
Do we need to be careful to stay in love? Well, by
looking around at the divorce rate (which isn't as bad as some think), it seems
we do. How is it that people who claim to be "in love" so deeply that
they pledge their lives to each other forever all of a sudden fall out of it?
The answer is they rarely do. Yes, at times, a great betrayal causes someone to
lose the love they had for them but more often it wears away. Little by little,
small act by small act, love is let go.
If one is to stay "in love," I have found
one must be careful or maybe I should say one must work for it. I won't go into
the lessons or the books which tell couples how to remain in love, but they all
say it takes a certain amount of work. This is especially true in a culture
where “love” comes and goes easily.
The same is true when it comes to our love of God. We have to work at it. We have to remind ourselves why we fell in love and what God means to us. If we don't, then our love will slide away and we may find ourselves in love with some other god. This is what will happen to Israel. God and Joshua warned them and warn us still today, "be very careful to love the LORD your God” (Verse 11, NLT).
Jos 23:1-16
(1) And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
(2) And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
(3) And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
(4) Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.
(5) And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.
(6) Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
(7) That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
(8) But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
(9) For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
(10) One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
(11) Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
(12) Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
(13) Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
(14) And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
(15) Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
(16) When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
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