Joshua 23:14-16 - The Goodness of God

"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!