Lectionary: 418Joshua in turn said to the people, "You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If, after the good he has done for you, you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you."
"Consider yourself warned!" Joshua might have said to his people at Shechem as they were about to enter the Holy Land. The core of the group were Hebrews, escaping Egyptian slavery. But others had joined them and the time had come to renew their allegiance to the Lord, his prophet Joshua and the traditions they had established -- or disperse.
Joshua, like Moses before him, knew his people. They had complained, carped, grumbled, and mumbled their way through the Sinai desert for the past forty years. They had no instinct for faith. Bitter experience of slavery had taught them distrust of leadership, suspicion of one another, and a preference for the predictable, expected, and normal.
The Lord promised freedom if they would let go of the past; not only as it had been in Egypt and Sinai, but as it would unfold in the future. For the present instantly becomes past and the one thing we should expect of the future is, "This too shall pass." No sooner have we adjusted to a new normal than it disappears under new pressures and demands.
The way forward will not be easy and you will be continually tempted to just quit. "Who needs this?' you'll ask.
The current expression is "existential crisis." We are challenged as to our very existence. Whether we speak of global warming, nuclear war, white supremacy, abortion, gun violence, or the opioid plague going forward is daunting. The only thing we can predict with certainty is the "End of the World as We Know It."
Amid these fears we hear Joshua urging us to, "Fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely."
It's time to stop apologizing for that expression, fear the Lord. The one who fears the Lord fears no one else. We need at least that much courage today.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.