DId God Really Say…

June 12, 2024

Read Joshua 23, Ecclesiastes 7, 2 Corinthians 6-7

Consider a time when someone made a promise to you? What was it? Did they keep it? Most of the time we think about good promises that we make to others or that someone might make to us. We might not even consider that a promise would be something bad. We could easily call that a threat.

In the last couple of chapters in Joshua there is a reminder of the promises that God gave toward Israel. Joshua calls all the elders and family leaders together as he prepares to die, and he reminds them of the promises that God made to them as a people. “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” v. 14. It’s comforting to know that God keeps al his promises and that not one of them has failed to come to pass.

But when God makes a promise that He will deal with Israel if they violate the covenant that they made with him this changes our outlook. “But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he 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” vv. 15-16. Just as assured that God keeps his good promises, we better understand that He will also keep the ones we wish He wouldn’t keep. What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
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