But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord

Joshua 24:2, 14-15 (NLT)

Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods…….So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt.  Serve the Lord alone.  But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.  Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?  Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?  But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

The thrust of these verses is what God or whose god(s) you serve?  Joshua started his speech by indicating that their ancestors, including the father of Abraham, worshipped other gods while ending the speech with the affirmation that he and his family serve the Lord God (Hebrew word used for God is Jehovah, the proper name of the one true God).

False gods/idols that were worshipped in ancient times include nature gods, fertility gods, animal gods, sun and moon gods, river gods and many other pagan gods.  For example, according to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1986), the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar symbolized Mother Earth in the natural cycles of fertility on earth.  She was the goddess of love, so the practice of ritual prostitution became widespread in the fertility cult dedicated to her name.  Ishtar has been identified with the Phoenician Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus. Ishtar's male fertility counterpart was Tamuz who was closely associated with the Canaanite fertility god, Baal.

Worship of these false gods appears extremely silly today, but people worship many similar false gods today, especially in America.  You have gods of pleasure, sports, money, materialism, fashion, lust, sex, rank/position/title, as well as gods of the occult and, overall, the god of self.  People worship other people gods such as sports heroes, television and movie stars, and musicians. There are thousands of false gods out there, whatever consumes your time, energy, and money.  The New Age movement is quite popular in America that basically reduces God to human limitations. 

Joshua protested all the false god worship going on in his day and proclaimed, “But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD”.  What did he mean?  Well, the meaning of the word for “serve” recorded in this verse (4 times in verse 15) is “to do labor, to work for another, to serve as subjects”.  It is definitely an action verb and it focuses on serving the one true God.   Joshua was the military hero and undisputed leader of the Israelites in their conquest of the Promised Land and he set the example to all others regarding where his faith and service resided. 

Oswald Chambers, in his July 8 devotional from his classic book My Utmost for His Highest, writes: “I cannot give up my will, I must exercise it. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God's Spirit.  When God gives me a vision of truth it is never a question of what He will do, but of what I will do. ‘Choose you this day whom ye will serve.’  Your choice must be a deliberate determination with everything else in your life held in temporary suspension until you make a decision.  Simply and freely declare before Him, 'I will serve You.'"

So, today, who will you serve?  Who will you give priority with your time, energy, and money?   Your decision has eternal implications so don’t brush it off, don’t ignore, don’t procrastinate.  Plus this decision involves not you, but your entire family.  Pray that the Lord will give you the courage, ability, and sensitivity to lead your family to serve the Lord as Joshua led his.