Being Subordinate

Chapters 23 and 24 of Joshua contain his farewell address to the nation of Israel. In that address Joshua recounts the history of Israel from before they were a nation, and in fact before the birth of Abraham. Joshua brings the history all the way to the current situation Israel was then facing, the process of taking possession of the promised land of Canaan and God living up to His promises of overcoming their enemies and giving them the land.

At the conclusion of the history lesson (you should read those two chapters) Joshua makes that famous statement in Joshua 24:15, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods your fathers served on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The people answer in one voice that they will serve the Lord who has blessed them as Joshua has just recounted with the gift of the promised land.

At this point the dialogue between Joshua and the people takes a very interesting turn. In verse 19-20 Joshua tells the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your iniquity nor your sin. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” The point Joshua is making to the Israelites is that you better stop and think about this. You had better take a commitment to the Lord, your God, with great seriousness. God takes it very seriously. He is not playing

This warning to take a commitment to God with great seriousness is applicable to us as much as it was to the Israelites. Christians are God’s children now just as the Israelites were His children then. God is not whimsical. As He was then, so He is now. This seriousness regarding commitments is a characteristic of God. Always.

The question then is how do we “serve foreign gods” today? How do we “forsake the Lord” today? The second of those two questions is more straightforward and easier so let’s deal with it first. It is dependent on the definition of “forsake.” In the dictionary we find the definition of forsake to be: to desert, to abandon, to leave, to renounce. If we desert God, we have forsaken Him. If we abandon, or leave God we have forsaken Him. If we renounce God, we have forsaken Him.

Having forsaken God, it becomes easy and natural to serve foreign gods. We have no allegiance to the God of the Bible so we replace Him with whatever suits our style more than He did. Another way to say, “serve foreign gods,” is “worship idols.” If you think that means you bow down before and offer sacrifices to images of Baal, or Ashteroth, or some other such figure, you’re being too narrow. An idol is correctly thought of as anything that comes between you and God, anything that commands more of your attention or time than God.

Money can be an idol. Do you find yourself reluctant to give generously to the treasury of the church so that the church can carry on the business outlined for it in the New Testament? Does obtaining money (your job) consume more of your time than the time you give in service to the Lord? Money may be the idol you serve. Pleasure may be your idol. Do weekends at the beach that take you away from worship of God have more appeal than singing God’s praises? Have weekend travel club ball tournaments for children or grandchildren become more important than serving or worshipping God? You may be more concerned with your stature in the community or at work. You may love the praises of men more than the praise of God. Maybe “self” is your idol, your “foreign god.” There are other possibilities, but this is not about compiling a list. It’s about examining your heart.

God expected the Israelites to serve only Him to the exclusion of all others. The very first of the Ten Commandments is, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” God did not tell us why he made that one first, but I’m convinced it comes first because it is the basis for all others. God is not only first, He is “only.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one cometh to the Father, but by me,” John 14:6. “But by me.” This, again, is an unchanging characteristic of God. He will not tolerate competition (He has no competition. He, alone, is God.) He will turn against and consume those who are unfaithful.

Here is another way we turn against God. We read verses like the above message of Joshua, and we don’t like it. We think it is unbecoming of God to be jealous and behave in a vindictive manner. That doesn’t match with the god we prefer and have created in our imagination. God should be more tender hearted. He shouldn’t say things like, “He will do you harm and consume you.” God should be the way we would have created him. It seems that we actually consider ourselves to be god.

Very much related to the above concept is applying the same way of thinking to other Biblical texts. There are several that could be chosen, but we’ll just look at one example and there will probably be readers who won’t like me choosing it. There are, of course, many other Biblical concepts which could have been chosen with the same rationale guiding the discussion. This is merely an example standing in for a basic principle. Moreover, if what has been said so far is Biblical truth, how am I missing the point in the following?

Divorce and second (or third, or fourth . . .) marriages are rampant in our society, and sadly, even among Christians. Yet, in a proclamation that is clearly unchanging and intrinsic to His nature, Malachi 2:16 reads, “‘For I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel.” Jesus talks more about the issue in Matthew 19, saying in verse 9, “ . . . Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Adultery is a sin that will keep people out of Heaven, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

What do many in our society do? They divorce and remarry as they please, and yes, this applies to Christians as well, although, I hope, not in such numbers. It seems our attitude is (as was the attitude of those in the first century who heard the words of Jesus, read the verses following verse 9) that Jesus/God is too harsh in His judgements. He has set a bar that we are not interested in reaching. Why should the rules regarding divorce and remarriage be so strict? In other words, God has got this wrong. He doesn’t know what He is doing and He needs to change.

Again, this is not the only issue that elicits such a reaction. It’s probably not even the best example I could have used. There are many throughout the New Testament as there were in the Old. To react this way to what God says in the Bible is to desert, abandon, leave, renounce, it is to “ forsake” God. Having forsaken God we “serve foreign gods,” the most common one being our own desires and formulations. This is serious, beyond dangerous, business. God through Joshua told the people to be serious, be very serious, about serving Him.

If we “forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.“ Oh, but some don’t like that! “God is too mean,” they might say. “He should be more understanding. This is not right. God should not be like this,” they say. If we think like this it is appropriate to ask, who do we think we are? Do we think we are God?

Read Job, chapters 38 - 42. All Job did was request to meet with God and have God give Job an explanation for why such suffering had come upon him. For three chapters God put Job in his place as a man to help Job understand that God is God. God is not a human for us to argue with. We are subordinate to Him. God is God, period, end of story.

Being subordinate means occupying a lower class, a lower rank, or a lower position. It means being inferior to someone who is superior. It means we are submissive to and controlled by a higher authority. It means that when we don’t understand the rulings or edicts of God, when we think He is too harsh and/or we don’t comprehend the reasoning behind His will, the fault is with us.

It falls on us to honestly examine ourselves to determine what problem we have that is causing conflict between us and God.

We must accept that between ourselves and God the problem is always us, and never God. We are always the ones who must change to become more like God. God will never change and we wouldn’t want Him to. This is a hurdle we must get over to have peace in our lives and a place in Heaven.