Joshua

Day Four's Search for Love:


Although my findings today don't have much to do with God's love for us, I still found them interesting. Since I'm going down the 'love' verses list, my next stop was the chapter of Joshua.
 
Several times in Joshua there is a call to be "careful to love the Lord your God." The longest verse being in Joshua 22:5: "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."
 
As I read through this verses, I couldn't help but think that for us to love someone we must know them. The Israelites didn't know God in the tangible human sense, and yet they knew God through His actions and character.
 
My next question was,  how were they to love God besides just keeping His commands and walking in His ways? I mean, love is an emotion, a very personal feeling we feel for one we adore. 
 
I headed back to Deuteronomy, back to the initial call to love God. It's a lot to read, but it helped explain it for me...
 
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates. 
 
When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you... be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
 
Fear the LORD your God, serve him only... Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you... Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you...
 
In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?” tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the LORD sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness” (Deut. 6:5-25).
 
After reading these verses, I came to the conclusion that as Believers we are called to remember all that God has done for us--how He has rescued us  and where He's taking us. As we remember and talk about those times of deliverance, our appreciation, adoration and love for God can't help but grow!
 
I also thought back to when I first started dating my husband. He was all I could think about, all I talked about, and all I wanted. God clearly desires the same adoration, dependancy and devotion from us. 
 
As I close for the day, I invite you to join me as I spend some time thinking about where I've been, where God's taken me, and where God's (currently) taking me. My immediate thought as I remember the old days is, Oh Mercy! Then again, that's exactly what protected me along the way!
 
Thank You, Lord!