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Choose This Day
Scriptures: Joshua 6:1-5; 15-21 and Joshua 24:1, 14-15
“When I heard the news and then confirmed it - I was stunned. Shocked. It was like another world - as though I was living in a dream.” So says one person who experienced the Fall of the Berlin Wall. “Living there, at the forward battle-edge of the Cold War - the Wall seemed permanent. Fixed. Unmovable as it was. Supported by thousands of tanks and Warsaw pact troops.” Having lived in Berlin for 3 years, grades 5-7, (68-72) - I too -- like the others here -- was impacted by the Wall and the cold-war itself. I was at work - working late when someone at the civilian firm I worked at came to me and said - hey - didn't you hear the Berlin wall came down. The wall was constructed on 13 August, 1961 and became increasingly fortified, stretching across an 860-mile (1,380-kilometre) border. On 9 November 1989, East German government – amid some confusion – announced that anyone wishing to visit the West would be granted a visa. Ecstatic crowds surged at the Berlin Wall and guards were left with no choice) but to open the various gates and checkpoints. This effectively was the “Fall of the Berlin Wall” (though it was days later when the actual demolition of the Wall began), and it ended almost thirty years of division between East and West Berlin. Joshua ends this book; and sums up his life with this now famous phrase: “Choose this day whom you will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Now understand, they have come to the land, they have conquered the impossible city of Jericho, and they have overcome their worst fears through the help of God. Still, Joshua feels the need to issue the call to the people. Who will they decide to serve? Will they make a vow before God and one another? Will they serve the Lord God or someone or something else? What is it that makes him challenge the people still? It is the fact that they (and we) can so easily go backward in our faith. When we are strong, then we must take care lest we fall again into sin. We already know that God’s mercies are new every morning. But are we willing to renew our commitment to follow and serve God every morning? That is the question. Let’s take it back to Joshua and the battle of Jericho. He met at the city walls, a warrior with sword drawn. He must have had some fear, some apprehension. At the end of Chapter 5, Joshua is confronted with this stranger and he asks: “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” Friends, look: When times are tough; When enemies are hard to distinguish from friends; When the atmosphere around you is charged with conflict; Then you ask who is for you and who is against you. It is black and white, good and bad; everything is very polarized. There is little grey area in your world then, and anxiety is at an all – time high. Normal life is not like that; people navigate the world with less intensity, but when you are in a strange land and have little security in your environment, it is all or nothing, do or die, ally or enemy. BUT GOD shows us another option! The Warrior says, “I am neither (for you, nor for your enemies); I am the commander of the army of the Lord.” You are looking horizontally; who is for or against you here on earth. I am calling you to look up! Look to God, not your problems and not the human solutions to your problems: bigger armies, better weapons, wiser strategies! From Joshua we can learn these five points:
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