![Joshua 24:1-15, [16-26] , Joshua Renews the Covenant](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/d8bd5d36-9ecd-4c8f-aa9b-ac0dbd175d21/22.10.16.jpg)
Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, October 16, 2022
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: God gave God’s full loyalty to God’s people and asked nothing more than the same in return. God’s people had to choose: worship God or walk away.
It took many decades for the Israelites to establish a working society for themselves after God freed them from slavery in Egypt. God gave them commandments and laws to help them learn to govern themselves. God kept them out of the promised land until they had an opportunity to become a working society. Then God gave them the land promised to them. And for all this time, God put up with their divided loyalties, as they continued to worship the gods of Egypt and surrounding lands.
But the time had come for the people to choose. No longer would God tolerate sharing the people’s worship with gods that had done nothing for them. God gave them everything. God wanted their full attention.
Joshua delivered a powerful speech first laying out all that God had done for the people. (God’s requests usually began with what God had already done for the people.) Joshua showed how faithful God had always been to them, despite their divided loyalties. Then Joshua put it plainly: choose God or walk away. Interestingly, even with all that God had done and the overwhelming evidence that God was looking out for them, God still gave them a choice.
The people could see that God had been faithful and were willing to worship God alongside their other gods. But Joshua made it clear—God wanted full loyalty for God’s loyalty to them. It was a fair ask. Ultimately, the people as a whole chose God, and God renewed God’s covenant with God’s people. Again.
