All this week I’m writing on the eternal secret to strength and courage. Make sure you check out the introduction and the first step, Remembering that God is with you.
Step 1 of being strong and courageous was to remember that God is with you. Step 2 is to follow God’s Law completely.
This comes from verse 7: “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go”
The Whole Law
This idea of following all the law, of not turning from the right hand or to the left, is one that Joshua has heard before. Moses called the people to do this several times in the book of Deuteronomy. Unfortunately, I think this is one of the most common sins in the church today. We love to follow God’s Word when it is convenient for us, but we’re also professional excuse makers when it comes to the parts of His Word we don’t love.
It would be foolish, however, to ignore the commands of God because we see, right here in verse 7, that these commands are given to us for our benefit. Even following the laws we don’t love leads to success, and that is a good thing!
The Fine Art of Excuse Making
What often happens is we start to follow our own path to success instead of the straight one that God has given us. We get an idea, and could even have good motivations for this idea, but it turns us, sometimes ever so slightly, from God’s law, and this leads to destruction.
What does it mean turn to the left or to the right? Essentially, it is “bending the rules.” Perhaps we say, “I’m not going to commit adultery, I’m just going to click this interesting link and only look for a second.” Or, “I know God wants me to give to the church, but this month I need a new sports car and he wants me to be happy!”
I like to call it “The Fine Art of Excuse Making.” Humans are professionals at making excuses to justify their sin. Some of those excuses are even based in good motivations, like wanting someone to feel loved. There are lots of reasons for our excuse making, but most of them boil down to pride. We think we know better than God.
If we really want to live a successful life, we need to follow the entire Word of God. Don’t believe me? Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at a specific example in the Bible of a very wise person who thought he could get away with Bending the Rules and see what happened to him. See you then!
Are you good at directions? When was the worst time you ever got lost?
