Joshua 24:14-18 New International Version (NIV) 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
Mon. October 19 After the exodus, when God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses died and his assistant, Joshua, took over. This passage comes at the end of Joshua’s time as the leader of Israel. He is stepping down, but warning the Israelites to remain faithful to God. They think they can do it! The book of Judges covers the years after Joshua. It shows that Israel failed at this task miserably. Have you ever decided to do something important? Lose some weight? Start eating healthy? Stop watching so much television and read more? Fix something on the house? Keep your house or car clean? We know that actually doing what we set out to do is hard and is a daily struggle. This is setting the stage for our series on the Old Testament book of Ruth. Ruth and her husband, Boaz, are “ordinary” people, meaning they do not accomplish big, heroic things for God. Ruth did not strive to do great and amazing things. She did not act like she could do anything and everything she put her mind to. We will see how God used her in ordinary, every day ways to love, serve, and care for others.