God: Faithful to the End

God had been promising a Promised Land for a long time. God promised Abraham not only descendants, but a land for them to live on. Then Abraham died and Isaac came. Then Isaac died and Jacob (later named Israel) was born. Jacob was born, had 12 sons, and died in the land of Egypt. Three generations had passed, and God had still not fulfilled His promise. Fast forward over 400 years of life in Egypt, and another 40 years of wandering in a circle in the desert.

Finally Joshua son of Nun, the former servant of Moses, enters the scene and starts conquering the Promised Land. Even so, when Joshua was at the end of his life, he realized that this was not the end of Israel's relationship with God. Jeff Miller says, "Joshua reflects on the proven faithfulness of the Lord once again. He then brings Israel to a crossroads and challenges them to choose their response to this faithful God. The Israelites have been recipients of the faithful service of God; now they are given the opportunity to serve Him in return."

God may have seemed to take a long time to answer His initial promise, but He did answer nonetheless. What is important to note, is that our relationship with God is not just built on promises and rewards. What we see from the Bible is that there are consequences for our faith, and consequences for our unfaithfulness. God will always be faithful, but that does not mean that we will always be faithful. But instead of dwelling on how bad we can be, it is better to look at a life that was faithful to the end, and to see how God responded.

Living Life