The first six books of the Bible talk about who God is and who we are... Our Fall and need for salvation along with His promises and grace towards us. These books describe the journey from the dawn of time in a perfect land through the the enslavement of sin and the entrapment of Egypt, climatically ending in the fulfillment of God's promise to deliver Israel to a new and holy land, flowing with milk and honey, and their ownership of that land. The journey is treacherous and deadly, no one who had been alive at the beginning had even lived to see the end.
Here, in this season, let's start at that end:
Joshua, the new leader of God's people who had led them just as righteously as Moses had, through battle and war, gathers all of the tribes of Israel.
He says, "Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord... Choose this day whom you will serve..."
The people answered him saying, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other Gods..." They spoke of the deliverance out of Egypt, the houses of slavery, and told tales of God's wondrous signs, gracious guidance, and continuous care for them as they had sojourned to the new land.
But, Joshua knew better, saying, "You are not able to serve the Lord for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions of your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm..."
The people responded, "No, but we will serve the Lord..."
Joshua lives out the rest of his life, dying at 110 years old. The generation of men who had sworn to serve the Lord also passes away.
"There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel... The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served [other gods]... they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers... chasing after other gods... they provoked the Lord to anger...
[The Lord] gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them... he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies... the hand of the Lord was against them... as the Lord had sworn to them... they were in terrible distress."
The Lord God, Father Almighty, Savior, and Redeemer of Israel had left his people. They had seen God's glory, and they had experienced a glimpse of His face, but they knew that He was no longer on their side. They witnessed His had working against them. They knew that they had forsaken Him.
Like Darcy must have felt in the scene above, the Israelites just got dumped on. They were left drenched, out in the rain, no longer the apple of their Creator's eye.
In the same way, we tend to find ourselves lacking. We turn away from God, never as committed or whole-heartedly following Him as we should be. Sin has its way with us far too often. Can He ever forgive us? This isn't the end.
In the same way, we tend to find ourselves lacking. We turn away from God, never as committed or whole-heartedly following Him as we should be. Sin has its way with us far too often. Can He ever forgive us? This isn't the end.
For this Advent season, the Super Inc. Devotions will be set up a little bit differently. I know, I hate "to be continued" endings as well. If you really want to, you can follow along, the passages used today are from Joshua 24 (the last chapter of the book) through Judges chapter 2 verse 15 (read ahead to spoil the ending).
More of the same clip will be played next week as the story continues. But, for now, our Advent prayer is the same as the intro song by Daniel Vang:
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