Daily Devotion: Fearfully and Faithfully

Scripture:
Joshua 24: 1-28

Main Verse:
Joshua 24:14
Fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.

Observation:
Joshua was one of the few men in the Bible who faithfully served the Lord. He had known and witnessed the great things the Lord had done for Israel, so in chapter 24, he reminded once again the Israelites about why he chose to serve the one and only God. The Israelites were a stubborn people. They kept on serving other gods despite having known from the beginning the wonderful works the Lord had done in their lives and despite all the things that the Lord had done to save them from their enemies. Joshua wanted them to choose: Do you want to serve the one and only Lord our God, or the foreign gods that your ancestors worshipped?

Joshua's encouragement for all Israelites was to fearfully and faithfully serve the Lord. Actually, he shouldn't have even been encouraging them if the Israelites had been loyal in serving the Lord. The fact is, the Israelites are a stubborn nation, and they keep on forgetting how the Lord had saved them multiple times from their enemies. And because they were serving other gods, their hearts were far from God.

Application:
If we truly want to be close to the Lord, we should have a heart that fearfully and faithfully serves the Lord. It is this fear, this deep respect and reverence for the Lord, that would bring us closer to the Lord's heart. And that is what the Lord desires for each of His children. He wants us to feel His presence. He wants us to know that He is just close by, and He desires to talk with us. He wants us to call out to Him when we are in stressful situations. We won't be able to have this kind of relationship with the Lord unless we fear Him. He wants us to serve Him with all faithfulness and we are indeed to sincerely serve the Lord. Why? It is the only way we can show the Lord that we are grateful for all the good things He has done in our lives. Our salvation from eternal damnation is already one huge reason why we should serve the Lord. We are saved to serve the Lord! So let us show our faithfulness by having Jesus in the center of our lives.

Prayer:
Father, I will be forever grateful for the gift of salvation and for the forgiveness of my sins. I want to faithfully serve you and my heart's desire is for the people close to me to share that same purpose in their lives. Continue to hold my hand, oh Lord, so I can walk with you until the day you come again. Make me truly worthy to serve your name. I pray this in the name of your Only Son, Jesus. AMEN.