"God is good all the time, and all the time, God is
good." Jesus said in Mark 10:18, “…No one is good but One, that is,
God.” God is always good because the very nature, attribute, and
characteristic of God is that He is good. He is a good God!!!! And that is what
we see in Joshua 23 as Joshua gives his last words to the nation of Israel
after they conquered the “good land”, the “Promise Land. Over and over again,
in this chapter he reminds them of all the good God has been and given to them.
It was goodness of God that brought them out of Egypt. It
was His goodness that provided for them in the wilderness for forty years. It
was God’s goodness that drove out the enemies and gave them this “good land”.
At least three times in this chapter Joshua called Canaan, “this good land”. It
was your good God that gave you “this good land.”
Matter of fact, meditating on the goodness of God is a
strong motivation for obedience. James connects the goodness of God with our
resisting of temptation. James 1:12-18: “Blessed is the man who endures
temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life
which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is
tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil,
nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away
by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth
to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived,
my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow
of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we
might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
When Nathan the prophet confronted King David with his sins
in 2 Samuel 12:1-15, he reminded David of God’s goodness is protecting him and
in providing for him, when Saul was trying to kill him, and if that wasn’t
enough, God would have done even more good things for him. So, why would you
commit this terrible sin and turn away from the LORD?
It was not his own badness but his father's goodness that
brought the prodigal son to repentance and then back home (Luke 15:17). In
Romans 2:4 we are told that, "The goodness of God leads you to
repentance". The danger is that the material blessings from the Lord can
so possess our hearts that we start focusing on the gifts and forget the Giver.
Moses warned the people of Israel about this very thing in Deuteronomy 8.
Joshua's three main admonitions in his last message to
Israel need to be heeded by God's people today: Obey God's Word (Josh. 23:6), hold
fast to the Lord (v. 8), and love the Lord (v. 11). Too many Christians have
not only compromised with the enemy but also have capitulated to the enemy, and
the Lord is not first in their lives.
Today, may the LORD help us to take the time to put Him
first in our lives by reading His Word, listening to His Word, studying His
Word, memorizing His Word, meditating on His Word, but most importantly, loving
Him and obeying His Word! “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves” (James 1:21-25).
God bless!
