Do Not Turn Away to the Right Hand or to the Left

14“Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. 15It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you, 16when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”

Joshua gave himself to Moses as his servant, and yet he served God with his whole heart. Even when Moses left the tabernacle and went back to his own tent, Joshua showed his faith by staying to keep watch over it. When the people spoke and acted foolishly and came under God’s rebuke, he was always gentle and humble, covering for them and striving to build them up in faith. God heard Joshua’s earnest longing and his prayers. He destroyed Israel’s enemies and helped the Israelites enjoy peaceful rest.

Joshua gave his utmost for the Kingdom of God as he fulfilled his calling, and before he knew it he had grown old, and the day came when he must leave the people. He would have thought long about how to close the little that remained of his life, and about what to say to Israel so that they would go on serving God well even after he was gone.

Exodus 17:12-13

12But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset. 13Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

In the war with Amalek, Moses kept praying with the help of Aaron and Hur, while Joshua led the soldiers out to the battlefield at Rephidim. As soon as Moses gave the order to go to battle, Joshua obeyed at once, and from morning through the whole day he fought Amalek at the risk of his life.

To Joshua, Moses’ command was God’s own word. Because the words of Moses were the will of God, Joshua obeyed without condition, and God gave him the same power he had given Moses. To offer God obedience like Joshua’s is the way to be loved by him, and it is what moves him to lead every battle to victory. Yet Joshua did not obey the word unconditionally in order to be blessed.

So the people had experienced the power of faithful Moses and had watched Joshua’s obedience, and still, rather than hold to their faith, they fell for the lure of the Canaanite women and were corrupted. Because of this, Joshua, who would soon depart this life, was deeply troubled. As anyone would, he probably looked back, before giving Israel his last charge, on the days when God had led him.

He thought back to the fear he had felt as a leader, knowing that once Moses was gone he himself must lead the people; to how fervently he had longed for a miracle when the priests carried the ark of the covenant and set their feet in the Jordan; and to the thrill of crossing the parted river. When he set up the twelve stones at Gilgal to commemorate the victory, he had been sure that no more hard and painful days lay ahead for Israel. He could not forget how moved he had been when he entered Canaan with the Israelites and, at the risk of their lives, they were circumcised, and God guarded them from any attack by the nations around them. Looking back now, he came to see that the miracle of Jericho’s fall, and even the disgrace of defeat at Ai, had been events he needed in order to mature.

When the twelve tribes served with zeal, Joshua’s heart was full at the sight of their faith. But when the people saw the riches of Canaan and lost heart, he was disappointed. Watching Achan, he felt how weak and wicked human beings are. Seeing Caleb’s faith, he gave deep thanks to God for a fellow worker who would stand with him even to death. Before the Anakim, he knew he was as small as a grasshopper. Yet because he believed that God is greater than any fortress, he hid his natural fear and urged Israel on.

Joshua was human too. When the people rejoiced, he was glad, and when frightening things happened, he was afraid. Each time a crisis passed, the people forgot all their pain and turned their eyes back to the world, but for Joshua it remained as a wound hard to bear. Even so, as he watched the tribes take their land one by one and settle down, he must have thought that his had still been a life greatly blessed by God, and given deep thanks to the God who had granted him such a precious life of walking with him. Now, as he recalled the past, Joshua’s hair was white, and the arm that once swung the sword with strength had become a hand that prayed for Israel in peace.

He had given himself to the point of death, and yet a small regret remained. What do you think as you look at him? When you one day stand looking back on your own life, I hope you will have the gratitude and the faith of knowing that you did strive to live by faith, and that you can now meet God and rest in his arms with confidence. Joshua gave his best in every moment given him so as to have no regrets at the end of his life. As Joshua labored not to disappoint God, so let us love God and make lives that leave no regret.

Even if Joshua had not urged us not to turn to the right hand or to the left, we must live in obedience to God now so that we will have no regrets at the last moment. When God calls us at the end, how wonderful a life it will be if we can say to God and to ourselves, with thanks, that we have lived without regret!

I have asked myself what it really means for a person to grow old. Perhaps we are old when we can look back on the years we spent grasping to own more and flaring up so as not to lose to anyone, and smile at how fleeting and empty it all was. Perhaps we are old when we can open the hand we kept clenched all our lives for fear of losing what we had, and rejoice to see someone else hold it. Such mature character, I suspect, has nothing to do with how many years we have lived. No matter how old people are, if they still flare up and cannot let go of what they clutch, they are foolish children, not yet ready to meet God. Whoever cannot give up their stubbornness, who shuts both ears and will not listen to others, is a foolish child who must still be broken and crushed.

To God the years of a human life count for nothing, because the maturity he looks for in his people is not age but obedience, faith, thanksgiving, and praise.

Are you ready to sacrifice yourself? You must understand that if you hear the word only with your ears, grow swollen in the head, and refuse to give yourself out of a proud heart, God will cast away both the heavenly grace he entrusted to you and you yourself. Knowledge of the word may earn admiration from people, but to God it is refuse he cannot use, of little worth. The word without deeds, then, is nothing but knowledge, and it cannot be put to use for the Kingdom of God. May you, like Joshua, search your heart and weigh what you must offer for God to accept it, and what you are holding in your soul.

Joshua 23:6-7

6“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left; 7that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;

Joshua knew that his peaceful old age was all the grace of God. So he called for the elders, heads, judges, and officers of Israel and charged them: they had seen all that God had done for them, so they must serve Yahweh alone. He charged them again and again because he knew that if the people did not keep God at the center, then whenever the Canaanites enticed them they would turn aside to the right or to the left and betray God, calling on the names of the Canaanites’ gods, swearing by them, serving them, and bowing down to them. When people abandon God, they commit so many sins. Though God had watched over them and led them all this way, if they gave themselves up to the riches of Canaan and the lure of its women, Israel would perish.

When Israel entered Canaan and took the land, it was not by their own strength or ability that they conquered it. They took the land of Canaan easily without any dealings with its people, and they enjoyed peace without having to strive for it. As long as Israel lived with God as king and harbored no greed, they could live a peaceful life free from attack by the nations. So when Israel suffered in Canaan, it was because they had pulled God down from the throne, seated themselves in the king’s place, compromised with the world, and sinned.

Joshua 23:15

15It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you,

The book of Judges is the record of what Joshua feared and worried over coming to pass. After Joshua died, Israel abandoned God and was conquered by foreign nations, and every time they cried out in their suffering, God had compassion on them, raised up judges, and rescued them. For all Joshua’s pleading, the people slid into corruption as soon as he died, and they turned away from God.

To be sure, Joshua lived according to God’s word, but because he was human he came under attack from the Canaanites and grieved over a people sliding into corruption. Each time, though, God helped him. That is how he came to live a life of great victories, like one man chasing a thousand enemies. Human life cannot escape the attacks of Satan, the prince of the power of the air, so even God’s people who live by his will suffer hardship. But their lives end not in failure but in blessing.

Knowing that God is a jealous God, Joshua urged the people to take good heed to themselves and love Yahweh their God. He did so because, if Israel left God and turned aside to the right hand or to the left, they would not be protected even if they were put to shame and forced to their knees before people as weak as those of Ai. Though they knew through their forefathers that blessing comes only to those who keep God as king, the Israelites fell for the lure of foreign women, committed sexual immorality, and made the foolish choice of serving Baal.

If Joshua stood here now, looked you in the face, and gave you the very charge he gave the people, would you obey?

It is not you but God who rules your life, whether you acknowledge it or not, because he is the Almighty, who works above human wisdom, reason, and judgment. You enjoy rest today because God has until now driven out before your eyes the Satan who seeks to rob you of eternal life.

Now, as those who have received God’s grace, I hope you will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. However much the world entices you, may you not set foot on its ground, not sink into the pleasures it enjoys, and not bow down to Satan or serve him. And I pray you will not lose heart when you look at your own ability or your few possessions, because when God is with you, you can drive off a thousand enemies even without a weapon.

Joshua earnestly longed for the people not to cast off God’s grace, and he pleaded with them to love God beyond their strength, to be faithful, and to live for him. Finally he charged them once more: if they broke God’s covenant and served and bowed down to other gods, wrath would come upon them in the same measure as the love God had shown them, and they would perish quickly from the good land he had given them. That shows, I think, how deep God’s love for his people was.

How did the people look to Joshua as he faced death? Even living a life of obedience as he had, there were crises at every turn and countless moments when right judgment was out of reach, and the people’s faith was pitifully weak. It may be that the thought of never again being able to speak such words to them frightened him, because he greatly feared that once he was gone they would not love God as their very life, and that they would fall under his wrath. What if, after coming all the way into Canaan, the land God had so longed to give them, they perished under his anger? In that anguish Joshua told them again and again not to forget God’s love, his grace, and their gratitude to him.

How thankful are you to God? I would ask you to think for a moment about how much grace God poured into you before you, who did not know his love, came to have a thankful heart. The sacrifice parents must make for their children before they hear them say “thank you” cannot be put into words. Only when the pain of breaking themselves, the suffering of long patience, and a love that gives up its own joy have piled up do they hear those words. So, just as children must not forget that gratitude, we must not forget God’s love, his grace, and our gratitude to him. If we forget to be thankful for the freedom and ease that the sacrifice of God and of our parents has given us, God will put us through the fire in proportion to how much he loves our souls.

Friends, believing in God and leaving him are both your choice. But the results are as different as heaven and earth, as heaven and hell. I hope you will not stray from the good land of faith where you now stand, because to give you that land God himself chose to set aside his throne and give his own life in sacrifice. May you be children of blessing who, like Joshua, show God a beautiful faith of constant obedience and service until the day you die.

May you never turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but always walk with God, and enjoy eternal blessing both on this earth and in heaven. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.