Choose

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Choose this day who you will follow. . . . As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Choose life that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him. Deuteronomy 29:19-20 (ESV)

These two passages remind me that we have choices we make every day. We choose when we arise and how we spend our days. We choose where we worship God or how we worship Him.

The passage from Joshua was one I heard at a church service, probably, a revival service. Joshua speaks to all the tribes of Israel as they renew the covenant with God.

I have a magnet on my refrigerator that states this message from Joshua to the Israelites. It has a big round stone-like surface that always draws my attention to it.

    

I found the passage in Deuteronomy during a very bleak time in my life. I was looking at a circumstance in my life as the events I witnessed were going to be with us for the rest of my life. I experienced depression because of these issues. They affected our home life and I believed they were affecting our son.

Just before I found this passage, I had started attending a different church. I noticed their love of God’s Word was genuine. One particular evening I reclined on our couch and started reading my Bible. God must have wanted me to find the passage in Deuteronomy because, at that time, I really thought the Old Testament was dry reading. Discovering this passage made me take stock of myself and how I viewed events.  

Because of my reading those words in Deuteronomy, I was able to learn that God is in control and will guide me through times that seem bleak and dark.

One thing we need to teach our younger generation is that each choice we make has consequences. These results are not based on how good we are or on how much money we have in the bank. They are logical outcomes of our making good or poor choices.