Choose The Lord

In Joshua chapter 10 the Lord fights for Israel’s cause. In verses 12-14 it suggests that the sun stood still. If we read in the Book of Mormon we can come to the conclusion that it was not the sun that stood, but it was indeed the earth. In the Old Testament student manual it says, “So here we have the words of a Book of Mormon prophet confirming the fact that God can—and would, when necessary—cause that the earth should stop in its rotation to lengthen a day. And since on the occasion in question he was fighting to bring victory to Israel, this was one of his means of doing so.” I would explain this phenomenon to someone who wouldn’t believe the Bible as stating that we don’t understand all the workings of the Lord. The Lord is so far above us in knowledge and power that we, as mere humans, cannot comprehend all that the Lord does. In these particular verses we realize that Joshua was a prophet and not a scientist, so it is a human error. And people in those days did not have the knowledge that we have now and it would be quite hard to explain this phenomenon to someone who didn’t have any knowledge of the ways of science.

Israel’s Successes

Defeats Ai

Defeats Amorites and allies

Divers kinds and cities destroyed

Two kings on east of Jordan & 31 on West conquered

Israel’s Failures

Defeated by people of Ai

I think that the major theme of Joshua was that we should be choosing now whom we are going to serve. There are two great forces that are present here on the earth and they are both vying for our allegiance. It is our duty and responsibility to choose now who we are going to be and which side we are going to follow. Jeffrey R. Holland said, “The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who winds because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear!” How true this quote is. We all know that the outcome with be in the favor of the Lord, but sometimes we seem to forget that and start to side with Satan. We need to choose this day whom we are going to serve and stick with it.

“Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes”

·         Hittites

·         Amorites

·         Canannites

·         Perizzites

·         Hivites

·         Jesbusites

The Lord commanded Israel to stay away from these nations and not to “meddle” with them. He also told them that He would deliver them unto the Israelites and that they should destroy them and show no mercy unto them. The Lord goes on to command the Israelites to destroy their homes, altars, pillars, groves, graven images and their names from out of the place.

When the Lord told the Israelites to destroy these nations he was actually fulfilling a promise that he made to Abraham when he told him that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan. This is where these nations originated from and dwelt. At this time they had become such a wicked people that it was said that to “let  them survive would have proven to be the spiritual downfall of Israel” (Student Manual 226).Because the Canaanite nations were caught up in idolatry, prostitution, homosexuality and other wicked practices they were too far gone to ever come back to righteousness and they were actually proud of what they were doing. This type of unrighteousness is not pleasing unto the Lord and his punishment was for them to be destroyed at the hands of the Israelites.

If we look at our own world today we can see most of these same sins taking place. It is really scary to think that we have become such a people. We read about these people in the scriptures and it is easy for us to point fingers and judge, but it is a lot harder to do when we recognize the same things going on in our world. The best thing that we can do is to make sure that we are doing what we need to be doing. If we are with the righteous we will not fear and we will be able to be among those favored of the Lord. 

Look to Him

In Numbers 21, the children of Israel began to murmur against God and Moses, so God sent the curse or the “fiery serpents.” Elder Boyd K. Packer said of this matter, ““‘How silly,’ some must have said. ‘How can such a thing cure me? I’ll not show my stupidity by paying any attention,’ and some would not look. . . .“And today many say, ‘How silly! How could accepting Christ save me?’ They will not turn their

heads to look nor incline their ears to hear. They ignore the great witness that comes from these

conferences. We ought to, indeed we must, heed the counsel of these men, for the Lord said, ‘What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.’” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1968, pp. 75–76.) Today, there are people that won’t look to Christ, even though, like the brazen serpent, it is so simple.

In our daily lives as we position our lives to mirror that of the Savior we are showing to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, that we are trying to follow them and in turn that we are “looking” to them to save us and heal us. In today’s world we see people turning to other people such as doctors, shrinks, themselves or other people in general. There are those that worship nature, idols or money. The whole world is a major distraction from the Savior. People go to these different outlets and think that they will be healed or saved through their own power, but we have learned and been taught that it is only through our Savior Jesus Christ that we can be saved. It is through the basic primary answers of prayer, scripture study and church that we are healed through our Savior Jesus Christ.

In my own life I have seen the healing powers of the Lord in my daily life. Sometimes it is just that peace within me that allows me to get through the day. Other times it is a beautiful sunrise or sunset that let me know through the spirit that the Savior loves me and I feel the burdens of the world falling away. I often think of a quote that my teacher told me and that is: “When we put our trust in the Lord, the things in your life will fall in place or they will fall out of your life.” This has helped me make it through a lot of rough patches. Just knowing that by turning to the Lord and looking to him I will receive strength is enough power and evidence for me to continue to look to my Savior and be healed.

 

The following link is a Mormon Message that shows various people and the beautiful reactions they had after turning to the Lord and “looking to” Him.