Have you ever forgotten an important date? Maybe it was a friend's birthday or your wedding anniversary. With our hectic schedules, sometimes we forget the important things—including the past blessings of God. We take for granted our relationships, our health, and the possessions that God has entrusted to us. Almost as soon as we set foot on land, we forget how God has guided us through the storm.
Throughout the book of Joshua, God supernaturally carries the Israelites through one insurmountable task after another. The Lord stops the flow of the Jordan River. He causes the walls of Jericho to crumble. He gives victory to the Israelites again and again. Yet by the end of the book, the Israelites still forget God's goodness and generosity.
God wants us to use our resources and circumstances to bring Him glory and to testify to His goodness.
In Joshua 24, God speaks through Joshua, reminding Israel how He had faithfully provided for them in the past. Joshua chooses to address the people at a special place to remind them of God's faithfulness: "Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem" (Joshua 24:1). Shechem was near the location where, 600 years earlier, Abraham had received God's promise to give him that very land where Israel was now residing. What better place to praise God's faithfulness and to pledge a response to His blessings?
We all have our own personal Shechem—the places where God has met us in a special way. These are the places where God has provided for us and has fulfilled His promises. These are the places where God has answered our prayers and has intervened on our behalf. Our Shechems are where God has shown Himself faithful—even when we have been unfaithful.
But God has not given us these many blessings so that we may become complacent in them. He has blessed us for a purpose, and we are called to respond. God wants us to use our resources and circumstances to bring Him glory and to testify to His goodness. He wants us to tell the story of how He has transformed our lives. He wants to see our willingness to share about His love for us.
Prayer: God, thank You for the Shechems in my life. Help me to never forget the many times You have shown Yourself faithful in my life. Help me to tell others about You. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
"Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem" (Joshua 24:1).
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