Monday Morning Manna
Monday, April 27
Monday Morning Manna
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
What a word! Yesterday Sis. Shellian Stephenson-Phillips asked the question – How is our representation of God presented? Using an illustration from the Cosby Show where Vanessa returning home from college brings home wither a boyfriend/fiancé to her parents she’s been keeping a secret. With everything that is going on today, how are we representing God? How are we presenting Him? Sis. Shellian admonishes us to be careful of our representation of God. Speaking from Joshua 24:8-16, Sis. Shellian encouraged us to pay attention to the light that we are shining for God.
Joshua 24 gives us an account of Joshua’s final speech to the leaders. Joshua remembers the good works of God and speaks to all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. Joshua made one last attempt to reach out to the people to ensure once he was gone, they were continuing to build on solid ground. Today we may not be in the temple, but that should not stop us from representing the God whom we serve. We are not only representing the church but showing the world the God whom we serve. We must never think our work for God is done only in the temple. We must serve Him at church, at home, at work, on social media with our whole heart.
Let us never forget the goodness of God. Joshua was faithful in striving to keep the Law, and in trusting in God. God was faithful in helping them escape from Israel and kept them during this time. For this reason at the end of his life, Joshua could make the statement he did in Joshua 24:15 “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Sis. Shellian explained Joshua could make this statement because he had lived a life that continuously purposed in his hear to serve the Lord. During his lifetime Joshua chose to follow the path of God.
Joshua chose to fight against the Amalekites, choosing when it might cost everything. Joshua chose to reject the golden calf, choosing when the flesh might be satisfied. Joshua chose to serve the Lord by serving Moses, choosing a humble place. Joshua chose to believe God’s promise about the Promised Land, choosing against the majority. Joshua chose to recognize the leadership of the Captain of the LORD’s army, choosing surrender to God. Joshua chose to take leadership of Israel and lead them into the land, choosing faith instead of unbelief.
Today, God is giving us the same choice to make. We are made in His image and He wants us to choose Him. What is your choice today? Are we going to be like the Children of Israel and answer as they did – “So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.” Joshua 24:16
Destroy the idols among you, anything that is in your life that you put before God. Let’s represent God the way we are supposed to represent Him. Now we are serving out of fear however, as we look forward to normal the question remains – will you still chose God?