Before issuing his challenge to the people, a challenge to devote themselves exclusively to God, Joshua does something we might thing strange – he spends ten verses teaching a history lesson. He thus reminds us that our devotion to God actually begins with His devotion to us. Our faith is thus not blind – instead it is bolstered by meditating on God’s faithfulness, on remembering how God has blessed us in the past.

But this is not to say that we don’t need to exercise faith. After all, Joshua’s history lesson begins in verse 4 with a clear contrast between Esau and Jacob. Esau got his inheritance immediately, but Jacob and all his people first had to go down into Egypt, to be held in slavery for 400 years. God’s people have always had to wait, to trust God to deliver us.

But deliver us He does. In fact, that’s the main theme of this lesson – that God is the One Who accomplishes the salvation of His people. Notice how many times God makes Himself the subject of the sentence in this passage: “I gave, I sent, I did, I brought, I destroyed, I delivered.” If we are trying to save ourselves from our problems today, we are quite simply deluded. God has always been the One Who saves His people, and He continues to do that today.

Of course, sometimes God calls us to participate in His plan of salvation. God wanted His Old Testament people to drive out the pagan nations from the Promised Land, just as He wants His New Testament people to drive out sin and wickedness from our hearts and lives. Our work may thus be spiritual rather than physical, but it is no less difficult.

And that’s why the third lesson God has to teach us is so important – it is He Who will deliver our enemies – enemies like fear and discouragement and despair – into our hands. There is simply no room for us to congratulate ourselves since Christ is the One Who has gained the ultimate victory over sin and death by His cross and His empty tomb.

So today, let us remember the great salvation God has provided for all who trust in Jesus Christ. Let’s wait on the Lord Jesus, not only to return in glory to judge the world, but to give us whatever blessings we need for today. And while we do our best to advance His cause in our lives and in the world around us, as we seek to live by His royal law of love for Him and for everyone around us, let us be careful to give Him all the glory.

Joshua 24:4-12 (NAS)

4 ‘And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5 ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.
6 ‘And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7 ‘But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 ‘Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you.
9 ‘Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.
10 ‘But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand.
11 ‘And you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus I gave them into your hand.
12 ‘Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow.