[One-Verse Meditation]

Joshua 24:19 “But Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.’”

[Meditation]

This verse is hard to understand. Joshua, who had passionately urged the people to serve the LORD alone, now declares in response to their decision, “You are not able to serve the LORD.” It sounds contradictory, like he’s going back and forth.

But here, we encounter the deeper meaning of yesterday’s meditation. If yesterday was the moment we realized we were unworthy of salvation, today is the place where we confess we are even unable to live the saved life.

Joshua clearly states why we cannot serve God. It is because He is a ‘holy God.’ Before His perfect holiness, with which sin cannot mix at all, our best efforts and zeal have no place. Furthermore, He is a ‘jealous God,’ one who desires all of our hearts, so our nature, which constantly glances at other gods, can never satisfy Him.

Therefore, the declaration “he will not forgive your rebellion or your sins” is not meant to make us despair. Rather, it is a declaration of bankruptcy on our self-righteousness and zeal, saying, “Do not think you can serve me in your own strength. Do not believe you can satisfy my holiness with your efforts.”

Before this stern declaration of bankruptcy, we finally look to the grace of the Cross, where One satisfied that holiness and fully bore that jealousy on our behalf. Because it is impossible in my own strength, I come to rely only on the Lord who accomplished everything for me.

A confession of faith built on this knowledge of self-bankruptcy is qualitatively different from what came before. Although our lips may still confess, “We will serve the LORD,” the root of that confession has completely changed. If the former confession was a declaration of human confidence, it is now a response of faith that says, ‘Because it is impossible in my own strength, I will live only by the grace of the Lord who accomplished everything for me.’

[Prayer]

Lord, I confess that I am a sinner who cannot serve You for even a single moment in my own strength and zeal. Therefore, in the very place where my inability is revealed, I hold only to the grace of the Cross, where You accomplished everything for me. This is the saint’s victory. Let this be a new day of joyfully singing to the Lord who enables me to take this step of victory. Amen.
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[Daily Reading]

Joshua 24:9-24