Friday: Further Thought – Choose This Day!
Daily Lesson for Friday 26th of December 2025
Read Ellen G. White, “The Last Words of Joshua,” Pages 522–524, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Among the multitudes that came up out of Egypt were many who had been worshipers of idols; and such is the power of habit that the practice was secretly continued, to some extent, even after the settlement in Canaan. Joshua was sensible of this evil among the Israelites, and he clearly perceived the dangers that would result. He earnestly desired to see a thorough reformation among the Hebrew host. He knew that unless the people took a decided stand to serve the Lord with all their hearts, they would continue to separate themselves farther and farther from Him. . . . While a portion of the Hebrew host were spiritual worshipers, many were mere formalists; no zeal or earnestness characterized their service. Some were idolators at heart, who would be ashamed to acknowledge themselves as such.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 19, 1881.
“This solemn covenant was recorded in the book of the law, to be sacredly preserved. Joshua then set up a great stone under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ‘And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.’ Here Joshua plainly declares that his instructions and warnings to the people were not his own words, but the words of God. This great stone would stand to testify to succeeding generations of the event which it was set up to commemorate, and would be a witness against the people, should they ever again degenerate into idolatry.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 26, 1881.
Discussion Questions
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We have come to the end of our study of the book of Joshua and if you are like me, you may feel a bit unsatisfied. My father once told me that it was a good idea to leave the table a little bit unsatisfied and it has taken me a little while to find out why. We love answers. And if we read the whole of Joshua there is the potential to end up with fewer anwers than we expected.
In Douglas Adams’ book, “The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, the supercomputer “Deep Thought” is asked what is the ultimate answer. It responds quickly with “42”, the irony being that “Deep Thought” has no idea what the question is. The issue of having answers without understanding the depth of the question is one that we face frequently nowadays.
Most of us have come up against Artificial Intelligence and often inadvertently. We are mesmerised by its ability to provide quick good-looking answers and often use those answers as if they were oracles. We fail to recognise that the really important issue is that we understand the questions we are asking.
And in our Christianity, we often seek answers in dogma, proverbs, a scripture quote or two, or a catechism question and answer. We love, for example:
It is simple, direct and easily understood, but we only have to read on to find that through the judges, kingdoms, captivity, restoration and ultimately the diaspora, the Israelites wove a tapestry of idolatry and “One-God” worship. The singularity of the moment at the end of Joshua’s life merged into the weave and warp of everyday living as people interacted with others. We like to think of the Bible as providing “The Answer”, but it is really a record of a people living with and trying to understand the questions.
Jesus talks about searching for the wrong answers:
We are searching with the wrong question in mind. And for those who like to give; ”Jesus is the Answer”, we need to remind ourselves that answer will turn your life inside out if we accept it. It is not a scalar quantity, but a vector for living.
True freedom has everything to do with depending on God for every decision we make; it has more to do with making a wise choice about who or what will guide our lives. Joshua 24:15 (KJV) declares, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua teaches us that true freedom is made up of commitment, not merely the absence of authority. The book of Joshua explains how the Israelites were freed from slavery and brought into the Promised Land of Canaan, yet God continually reminded them that their freedom depended on obedience to His law rather than doing what seemed right in their own eyes. The message of the book of Joshua is that freedom without boundaries and rules leads only to confusion and loss; however, freedom from God’s perspective comes with guidance, purpose, stability, and life, revealing that the true price of freedom is not operating outside the law, but being faithful and responsible for the choices we make.
As we come to the end of the study on Joshua, one line leaves me unsettled. “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” Why did Israel cease to serve God once that generation passed away? This hits hard as a parent. What can we do as parents, and spiritual mentors to encourage those who come after us to have a direct relationship with God and not one based on our experience? What went wrong and what can we learn from it?
Judges 2 gives us an idea. In this chapter, we are told again that Israel was faithful as long as the elders that outlived Joshua were still alive, but after they passed away, apostacy set in. Judges 2:2 has God speaking and reads, “I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?”
When we read the book of Numbers, we see that the Israelites had no excuse because God had given them ample warning.
In Numbers 33:52 God gave Moses instructions for the conquest of Canaan. ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ‘then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places.” God also warned them about what would happen if they did not. Numbers 33:55, “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.”
So, what happened? Clearly disobedience. They didn’t do all that the Lord had commended them in driving out the inhabitants and destroying their idols. But I still wonder, why didn’t they obey?
Here we see the danger of comfort and complacency. The grown-ups got comfortable. Maybe they were tired of fighting. Maybe they were old and understood their children were the ones that needed to do the battles if the entire land was to be possessed, but they didn’t want their children to suffer as they had. They wanted their children to enjoy the peace and prosperity that they had fought so hard for. They didn’t see the harm. Clearly the Canaanites military might was broken. Even when the Israelites did not fully possess the Promised Land, they remained faithful to God. They told their children the old stories and showed them the memorial stones. There was no apostacy in Israel. What could go wrong?
Can we as parents be so comfortable seeing our children thrive in Canaan that we protect them from the very battles and struggles that they need to grow their personal experience with God? How will they understand that God is a God of provision when we provide all that they need and want? How will they know that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him when we seem to seek with greater diligence the great school, the great career, the affluent neighbourhood, even when it means compromising “a little” on “thus says the Lord.”
I pray that I may live a faithful life as Joshua did. And I pray that this faithfulness will not cease with my generation, but that God will help me to do my part to ensure faithfulness lives on after me. So, help me God.
It is amazing that when Israel was on the move, with hard work of conquering the land of Canaan, there is almost zero recorded incidences of apostasy under Joshua’s guidance. The change comes in when they are settled. The worship of other gods happen when they have time to interact with the neighbors, compare themselves against such…..the real worship of God ( intentional one) wanes when we get comfortable and stop the daily prayers, the search for scriptures prayerfully and application lead by Holy spirit ( Joshua 24:15)
What are some practical ways that leaders of the church today can pass on the torch to the next generation?
The next generation will not inherit faith simply because it is true—but because it is lived, shared, and entrusted. When leaders combine truth with relationship, authority with humility, and structure with prayer, the torch does not go out—it burns brighter.
Question # 4 appears to be a simple question, though, to me, the most important in light of the powerful impact ona faithful, dedicated, integer believer’s life. Joshua did not waver, he did not complain, he did not point the finger to excuse his shortcomings. He was a true leader in all that was given to him to manage, because he loved God more than anything else – Rom.13:1.
And this would be our best example, except, there is an even better one which came to fulfill the Covenant between God and His people – His own Son, Jesus Christ, our leader in all things pertaining to life. Instead of a stone to remember the promises of the Covenant, we have now a living cornerstone embedded in our heart and mind by which we can align and navigate our life by.
No more need for a ‘better’ leader to come. In Jesus Christ all our need for guidance has been fulfilled and satisfied. By His Grace, God even provided us with the Holy Spirit to request of Him to open our heart and mind to reveal the mysteries of our Salvation to us – 1Cor.2:9-12.
Discuss the meaning of the expression: “He [the LORD] is a holy God. He is a jealous God” (Josh. 24:19, NKJV). In what sense is God a jealous God?
He, the LORD, is a holy God because out of holiness He pruned Himself to be righteous, and out of righteousness He would decide to justify His action, and those who choose to observe Him must observe Him in righteousness. In other words, the LORD God is holy because His spirit is holy, He pruned Himself to be righteous because He justifies His actions based on His holy commandment, and because He is holy, we have to be holy to live in His kingdom.
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD; His glory fills the whole earth (Isaiah 6:3). The LORD is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works (Psalm 145:17). For it is written that you shall be holy because I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).
God is a jealous God in the sense that He dislikes the idea of worshiping idols, who know for certain that they cannot create the order of birth, create the universe, or create the substance of their images, and above all, idols cannot promise salvation to individuals who worship them because they lack the power and the knowledge to create a kingdom.
Unlike the lesser god, the LORD God created the universe, heaven and earth, created human beings, created the order of birth for living things, provided a commandment to regulate undesirable behavior, and promised salvation to individuals who may serve Him in righteousness. It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all the commandments the LORD our God has commanded (Deuteronomy 6:25). It would make no sense for one to abandon a commitment to the LORD because of an idol, especially if one initially chose to commit to God’s commandment.
If the Seventh-day Adventist church became extinct, what congregation would I search for to join. One who keeps the Seventh-day Sabbath, who believes in the Investigative judgement and the Sanctuary and its illustrations, the state of the dead according to Ecclesiastes 9:5, have the faith of Jesus and emulate it, including, repentance, baptism by immersion, faith, the Lord’s supper, and washing of feet, ect, the things that Jesus did, the law of God’s love(10 commandments), the special gift of prophecy(writings of Ellen White), the three Angels message.
The Sabbath School teacher asked for a testimony, a couple stood and said we went to 27 different churches the Seventh-day Adventist is the closest to the Truth. That is why we are in your Sabbath School class every week.
I wonder how many caught the paragraph in Sunday’s lesson of this week, as supporting righteousness by faith.
God is the main subject of the reviewed past: “I took,” “I gave,” “I sent,” “I plagued,” “I did,” “I brought you out,” “I delivered you,” and so on. Israel is not the main protagonist(champion) of the narrative but rather its object. It is God who created Israel. Had not God intervened in the life of Abraham, they would have been serving the same idols. Israel’s existence as a nation is not the merit of any of its ancestors but the exclusive work :of God’s grace. The fact that the Israelites are settled in the land is not a ground for boasting but the very reason why they should serve God.
Thank-you William, for this article of not only righteousness by faith, trusting in God, and pointing to God’s charter. He is my God who keeps His end of the covenant. Yes he is faithful even when we slip away and welcomes us back with open arms when we turn back to Him. God not only loves the righteous He loves the sinner He loves the backslider, one who can’t get the log out of their own eye, yet can find a speck in others eyes, and the Laodicean. We turn back to Him, He accepts us back with open arms. Luke 15:20. More than that He gives a banquet in recognition/celebration of our return. Luke 15:22-24. Reminds me of what Christ will do for us when we land on the Sea of Glass, after our 7-day journey into the Orion Nebulous.
By the way William, Tim and Jordan. I am reading the book ‘Sure Salvation, You Can Know You Have Eternal Life’. By Philip Dunham. Praise the Lord for him. And our pastors who preach the same. You can purchase it from adventistbookcenter.com
Faith my friends have faith in God to carry us through.
John, you meant to post on Williams article, “What Really Went Wrong With the Sini Covenant?”