As the eastern tribes return to their land, and again as Joshua nears death, Joshua charges the people to follow the Lord alone:

• Follow the Lord – Joshua uses many words to help Israel and us to understand what it means to follow the Lord. First, we are to obey his commandments (22:5).  We must walk in his way. We are to do everything God’s Word says to do.  Second, we are to love him (22:5, 23:11).  He must be our first love above all else.  Third, we are to cling to him (22:5, 23:8).  We must stay near to him and let nothing come between us.  Fourth, we are to serve God with all of our heart and soul (22:5).  We must be faithful and sincere in our service (24:14).  We owe him our entire allegiance.  Finally, we are to fear the Lord (24:14).  We must have a reverent awe of God, treating him with proper reverence and respect.  Review these words.  Does your life look like this?
• No other gods – Israel must choose between God and the gods of the nations. We too must choose who we will serve.  While we claim to serve God, it is possible that idols have propped themselves up in our lives.  What are you living for?  What is first in your life?  What is your life centered around?  Is it God?  Someone else?  The American dream?  Popularity?  Power?  Pleasure?  Are there idols you need to topple?  Choose this day who you will serve.

After some apparent procrastination on the parts of the remaining tribes, Joshua finishes dividing up the land.

• Procrastination – The remaining tribes were apparently dragging their feet when it came to scouting out the land that they might receive their inheritance. Joshua confronts them and gets them moving.  Has God called you to do something?  Maybe he has challenged you to respond to his Word in some way, but you are dragging your feet.  Don’t wait any longer!  Get busy doing what God has called you to do!
• God’s faithfulness – Our passage yesterday and today has been focused on the dividing up of the land. Now at the end of our passage today, we read in summary that God gave Israel the land he had promised to their fathers.  Over 400 years earlier God had promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land of Canaan, and now in God’s perfect time, he had fulfilled his promise.  God keeps his promises.  He is always faithful.  How have you seen God’s faithfulness in your life?  Will you trust him to be faithful in the future – no matter what you face?

With much of the land conquered, Joshua begins to divide up the land between the tribes of Israel.

• Wholly follow – The first to receive land west of the Jordan is Caleb. Caleb testifies that forty years earlier, when the other ten spies brought a bad report, that he had wholly followed the Lord 14:8).  Moses had promised him an inheritance because he wholly followed the Lord (14:9).  Now God had brought them into the land and Caleb received his inheritance because he had wholly followed the Lord (14:14).  Can you testify that you wholly follow the Lord?  Could others say that you wholly follow the Lord?  The issue is not perfection, but attitude and general pattern of life.  In what ways do you need to change so that the phrase – “wholly followed the Lord” – might be true of you?
• Pagan influence – Though most of the book celebrates Israel’s faithfulness to God, the two tribes of Joseph both fail to drive out the Canaanites from their land (16:10, 17:13). This failure sets the stage for Israel to reject God and practice idolatry in the book of Judges.  How careful are you to guard against pagan influences in your life?  What cultural practices are you tempted to follow before God?

The conquest continues and is a great success, except for one misstep.

• God’s counsel – The Gibeonites pretend to come from a long distance to make a covenant with Israel. Rather than seek the Lord’s direction (9:14), Joshua and the leaders decide on their own to make a treaty with them.  Only then, do they realize they have been deceived – but it is too late.  How easily we can be deceived!  A situation may appear one way to us, but is really very different.  What decisions do you need to make?  Are you seeking the Lord’s direction?
• No fear – As the southern kings gather to fight Israel, God tells Joshua not to be afraid (10:8). Later, as the northern kings gather, God again tells Joshua not to be afraid (11:6).  What situations cause you fear?  Will you remember that God goes with you and will help you?  Trust him, and do not be afraid.
• Obedience – As Joshua fights the northern kings, we read that Joshua obeyed God. Indeed he left nothing undone that the Lord commanded him (11:15).  How careful are you to obey the Lord?  In what areas of your life do you need to be more careful to obey the Lord?

In our passage today, the conquest begins!

• Trust and Obey – Before they take Jericho, God commands the men to be circumcised. They are in enemy territory, and God commands them to incapacitate the entire army.  They trust God and obey.  God commands them to march around Jericho for seven days and the walls will come down.  An unusual strategy at best, and we can only imagine the ridicule from the walls.  They trust God and obey.  What is God calling you to do?  What step of faith is he asking you to take?  What ridicule might you have to face for standing firm upon God’s Word?  In your life’s situations, will you trust God and obey?
• On God’s Side – Before the battle of Jericho, Joshua meets the “commander of the army of the Lord.” Joshua asks whose side he is on.  The commander says, “No.”  In other words the issue is not if God is on Joshua’s side, but is Joshua on God’s side.  Will he obey?  Are you trying to get God to perform for you, to be on your side?  Or are you humbly following him, on his side?

After 40 years of wandering, the time has finally come to enter the land.

• God’s Presence – God promises to be with Joshua. God will never leave him nor forsake him.  And God goes with Joshua, miraculously leading the people through the Jordan River.  Because of God’s presence, Joshua need not be afraid.  Instead he is to be strong and courageous to lead the people in taking the land.  What difficult situations are you facing?  Remember that God is with you.  You need not fear.  Because of God’s presence, you can be strong and courageous too!
• God’s Word – Joshua is told to meditate on God’s Word day and night that he might be careful to obey God’s Word. To meditate on God’s Word is to ponder or think about his Word.  Do you meditate on God’s Word each day?  How might you meditate on it day and night?  Are you acting on what you ponder?
• Remember – God commands Joshua to set up a pile of stones from the Jordan River to be a reminder of God’s miraculous act of bringing the people into the land. We are such a forgetful people!  What are some ways you are reminded of God’s work in your life?  Perhaps you need to set up your own stones of remembrance.