SCRIPTURE UNION DAILY DEVOTIONAL – DISCOVERY (USA)
Scripture Union Discovery 7th February 2025 Devotional Message for Friday
TOPIC: Joshua’s Parting Words
Opening Prayer
Prepare my heart to learn as I come to study your Word today, Father. Continue to change me; equip me to serve you with more gratitude, with greater faith and faithfulness.
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Read JOSHUA 23
Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders
23 After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3 You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.
4 Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.
6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. 7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. 8 But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.
9 “The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised. 11 So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
12 “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, 13 then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.
14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
15 But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.
16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”
Reflect
Gratitude is a spiritual discipline. We choose to remember what God has done. Take time today to reflect on the good things God has done for you and given to you.
I am often introduced these days as an ‘elder statesman’, a designation I quite enjoy! Like Joshua, I am not afraid to acknowledge my age, although I balk at saying I am very old. With age comes perspective, and hopefully, a little wisdom. From his position of ‘having seen it all’, Joshua exhorts the people of Israel with some fatherly advice, encouraging them to be mindful of God’s goodness to them in the past as they move into the future:
Be grateful (v. 3). They have taken possession of the land only because God has worked on their behalf. God has given them victory.
Be obedient (v. 6). They are to follow the example of Joshua, being careful to obey God’s Word. This is the pathway to blessing.
Be steadfast (v. 8). God has been faithful to them, so they are to be loyal to him, refusing to turn away to other gods.
Be loving (v. 11). God has loved them, and they are to love him in return. This is a relationship of love, not law.
Joshua’s advice has timeless relevance. Here is a pattern for Christian living that is worth following.
Apply
For what are you grateful? In what way is God asking you to be obedient? What does it mean for you to hold fast? How are you expressing your love for God?
Closing Prayer
‘Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart…I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever’ (Psalm 86:11, 12).
Scripture Union Discovery 7th February 2025 © 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved.
