I keep hearing part of a song in my head:
“As for me and my house, we will
serve THE LORD.” John Waller sings
this song. It is called: As For
Me and My House.
I found the official video on You Tube.
It is really good. To see it,
click here and before it starts,
click in the lower right hand corner, so you can watch it in full screen
mode. You really need to do this to be
able to appreciate it.
This song was definitely inspired by The
WORD of GOD!!! Joshua 24:15 “…as for me and my house, we will
serve The LORD!!!”
I grew up hearing this quote. And of
course, I have heard ministers preach sermons on it, but it has been a while
and I could NOT remember all the details.
So, I looked it up.
Let’s go back in time and find out who Joshua was and how he
became the leader of the children of Israel. Then we can find out who Joshua was talking to
when he proclaimed, “…as for me and my house, we will
serve The LORD!!!”
Joshua was one of the rulers over the tribes of Israel. He had trained under Moses, who was God’s
chosen leader of the children of Israel. God had spoken to Moses and sent him to lead the
children of Israel out of Egypt and into
the Promised Land.
When the Children of Israel got to the Promised Land, Moses sent out 12 men (leaders
and rulers of their tribes) to spy out the land for 40 days.
Joshua and Caleb were 2 of these 12 leaders. The 2 of them brought back a faith-filled
report, telling Moses and the people that the land was indeed full of milk and
honey, just as GOD promised. They
encouraged the children of Israel
to go in and take the land.
Numbers 13:17-20, 23, 26-30 (NKJV)
17 Then Moses sent them to spy out
the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South,
and go up to the mountains, 18 and
see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong
or weak, few or many; 19 whether
the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are
like camps or strongholds; 20 whether
the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be
of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was
the season of the first ripe grapes.
23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with
one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They
also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.
26 Now they departed and came
back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in
the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all
the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 Then they told him, and
said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and
honey, and this is its fruit.
28 Nevertheless the people who
dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and
very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the
South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains;
and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the
people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for
we are well able to overcome it.”
The other 10 men brought back an evil
report causing the people to be upset and fearful. They didn’t speak in faith like Joshua and
Caleb. Because of their evil report, the
children of Israel
refused to go in and take the land that God had given them.
Numbers 13:31-33 (KJV)
31 But the men that went up
with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are
stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an
evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel,
saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that
eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men
of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the
giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own
sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 14:1 (NKJV) So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried,
and the people wept that night.
Joshua and Caleb tried to rally the people and
encourage them to put their trust in God and take the land that HE had given
them.
Numbers 14:6-9 (NKJV)
6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land,
tore their clothes; 7 and they
spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we
passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord
delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land
which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only
do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of
the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from
them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
However, the children of Israel refused to trust GOD and
believe that HE could give them the land that HE had promised them. So, GOD sent them back
into the wilderness where they remained for 40 years-a year for each day that
they had spied out the land-until all those that were 20 years old and up
(except HIS faithful servants Joshua and Caleb) had died.
Numbers 14:30-35 (NKJV)
30 Except
for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means
enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 31 But
your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they
shall know the land which you have despised. 32 But
as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And
your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt
of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
34 According
to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each
day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you
shall know My rejection. 35 I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to
all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and
there they shall die.’”
NOT ONLY was Joshua a leader and ruler, but
he served the man of GOD!!! And when
Moses died, God chose Joshua to lead the Children of Israel.
Joshua 1:1-3 (KJV)
1 Now after the death of
Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the
Lord spake unto Joshua the son
of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead;
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the
land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread
upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
And so, here we are forty years later. The Children of Israel have taken the land
that GOD has given them. God moves
Joshua to gather everyone together to come before HIM. God speaks
through Joshua to the Children of Israel.
Joshua 24:1-8, 11-13 (NKJV)
24 Then Joshua
gathered all the tribes of Israel
to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their
judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2 And Joshua said to all the
people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your
fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor,
dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.
3 Then I took your father
Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants
and gave him Isaac.
4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and
Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his
children went down to Egypt.
5 Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt,
according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.
6 ‘Then I brought your fathers
out of Egypt, and you came
to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen
to the Red Sea.
7 So they cried out to the Lord; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians,
brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you
dwelt in the wilderness a long time.
8 And I brought you into
the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and
they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess
their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
11 Then
you went over the Jordan and
came to Jericho.
And the men of Jericho
fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered
them into your hand.
12 I
sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also
the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow.
13 I
have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not
build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which
you did not plant.’
14 “Now
therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in
sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the River and in Egypt.
Serve the Lord!
This is where we find Joshua telling them, THAT HE AND HIS HOUSE WILL SERVE THE
LORD!!!
Joshua 24:15 (NKJV) And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side
of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord.”
So, today, I ask you,
WHO WILL YOU
AND YOUR HOUSE SERVE?
