ESOCS Devotional 18 March 2025 – Fear The Lord
MEMORY VERSE: “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone.” Joshua 24:14 NLT
TEXT: JOSHUA 24:1-20
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.
6 ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 So they cried out to the Lord; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time. 8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. 12 I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. 13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
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What comes to mind when you hear the word “promise”? Do you remember an unmet expectation? Maybe distrust rises within you at the mention of the word. For many of us, the connotation isn’t positive. Life has throwThat word fear can be, well, a bit confusing. In this verse, the word fear has two meanings. The first is what we would expect – to be afraid of. We are to fear the Lord and, in that fear, we are to take Him seriously. We should know that He means what His Word says, and that He will do what He has said He will do. He is not a God to be trifled with. In that word “fear,” we see that it also demands that we regard Him with respect.
But the word fear also has another meaning, which is to revere, to regard as worthy of great honour. We are to hold the Lord in great awe, understanding that He deserves ALL the honour and that He is worthy of all our respect, adoration, and worship. Fearing the Lord means that we take our relationship with Him very seriously, and in doing so we can serve Him faithfully with all our heart.
So, as we go through our days, fearing the Lord and serving Him wholeheartedly, it becomes easier to do when we remember, consider, contemplate, and ponder the great things that He has done for us. Many people keep track of the things that they are grateful for each day. But how life-changing it would be if we were to make the effort every single day to remind ourselves of all the great things that God has done! He has redeemed us, saved us, sanctified us, and welcomed us, forgiven, healed, and provided for us. I challenge you to start putting down on paper, every single day, something that God has done for you that day. The more we look, the more we will begin to see how God works in so many ways in our lives, because He loves us. As our hearts fill with gratitude, serving Him will become easier. As we see Him moving in our lives, our fear (both respect and awe) for Him will greatly increase.
How different our lives, attitudes, and relationships would be if we were to “be sure to” put God first. Will you do this with me and see everything change for eternity, as we draw closer to the Lord?
CHALLENGES
- What are the things you can do to show that you fear the Lord and serve Him wholeheartedly?
PRAYER POINT
- Father, help me to learn how to fear you – in both respect and honour. Help me to serve you with all my heart, faithfully.
FURTHER READING: Joshua 24:21–end; Romans 1:1–15; 1:16–32
ESOCS Devotional 18 March 2025
