Joshua 23:1-16

Finishing well is a goal that each of us must maintain as a priority in our lives.  Joshua is now an old man and He has been leading the people for many years.  As he realizes that he is about to die he calls the leaders of Israel together so that He can challenge them one more time.  Joshua was a servant all the days of his life in that he was deeply concerned about the spiritual well being of the people he was leading.  He was not about promoting himself or getting rich off of the other people in the land.  He was genuinely concerned that his people be prepared to continue to trust and follow the Lord after his death.  Even now, in his old age, he is not concerned about himself and his impending death; his focus is on repeating the Word of God to the people so that they would know and recognize the will of God in their lives.  This is the way to go!  Joshua trusted God and spent his life proclaiming God’s Word to the people right up to the very end.  I pray that this will be true of my life as well.

REMEMBER WORD OF GOD: Joshua calls the people together so that he can remind them of how God had fulfilled all of His promises to them.  He reminds them that God has blessed them with military might far beyond anything that has ever been seen before.  One man is able to defeat a thousand men because the Lord is fighting with them.  This had been God’s promise and He had been faithful to deliver.  The people were experiencing the blessing and power of God because they were obeying the Word of God.  Joshua wants them to remember that God had made these promises and kept ever one of them because they had been an obedient people to this point in the conquest of the Land.  Joshua urges them to continue to obey and not to turn from the Word of God either to the right or the left but to remain focused on consistent obedience.  Joshua will no longer be there to remind them of this so he is calling them together for one last time.  There really is no better message for us to proclaim than that of remembering to obey the Word of God and remembering to be thankful for the blessing of God.

REMAIN IN THE WILL OF GOD: Joshua also wants to warn the people that they cannot simply coast on the victories of the past; but they must press forward and remain faithful within the will of God.  All of the progress made and the victories won will simply go away if the people begin to stray from God’s will and make peace with the pagan gods around them.  It is one thing to gain the victory, but it is another thing to maintain that victory through faithfulness.  Starting well is important but staying well is even more important.  Joshua has set an example of finishing strong.  He never stopped growing and trusting the Lord all the days of his life.  He was the faithful servant of Moses, he passed the test as a faithful spy and then was a strong and effective leader right up until his death.  He was never satisfied to simply rest in the victories of the past but was always pressing to be faithful in the present.  There is no such thing a coasting the Christian life.  We must always remain active and vigilant as we press forward to remain in God’s will so that we can continue to experience His blessing.  The alternative will only bring hardship and sorrow.