August 3rd, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

As I pondered how to summarize an overview of the Israelite’s history as they settled into the land during the time of Joshua and then encountered all kinds of drama through the period of the judges, this verse was echoing in my heart.

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Psalm 86:11

An undivided heart. God longs for us to have undivided hearts that are focused only on Him. It is why He began the ten commandments like this:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:2-3

It is why Moses pleaded with the people in his final address, “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.“ (Deuteronomy 4:39) Why Joshua cried out these familiar words in his own final address:

“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:14-15

Interestingly, the people responded vigorously to Joshua’s address, claiming that they would never turn their backs on the LORD in favor of the false gods of Canaan.

Sadly, that is exactly what they did.

The book of Judges is a horrifying tale of depravity, starting badly and cycling downward until it leaves us with some of the most disturbing stories in the pages of Scripture. [We took a more in-depth look at Judges here.] Judges 2:19 summarizes the state of the nation succinctly:

But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

Divided hearts. They refused to give up their idolatry, the evil practices they loved, they refused to bow their knee to the God who demanded their whole hearts and souls and lives. Oh, they gave Him a portion of their hearts – after all, He was the one they would cry out to in distress – but not all. Their hearts were divided, and they did not fear God’s name.

So, as I ponder these portions of Scripture, I am left with this staggering reminder of how very quickly our hearts can become divided, how quickly my heart becomes divided. Oh, I want to love and serve God, but am I undivided in my focus? Or have other things – even worthwhile things – crept into my life and heart and divided my affections?

Undivided hearts cause us to fear and love and worship the Lord in all aspects of our lives, mundane or extraordinary. Divided hearts allow idolatry, pride, stubbornness, and rebellion to sneak into our hearts and lives and destroy us. Sometimes we have divided hearts even while loudly proclaiming our single-minded focus on the Lord who rescued and saved us, just as the Israelites did.

We must choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve – who is it going to be? And before we point to the “as for me and my household” plaque on the wall of our living rooms… let us seriously reflect: who are we really serving with our time, energy, emotion, talents, money? Do we have undivided hearts? Do we fear His name?

He is the only one worthy of our undivided focus – give it to Him freely, for it is painful when He must demand the adoration He is due.

We’re continuing our One Summer, One Story series – a fast-paced overview of the “big story” of the Bible! Missed anything? Find all the past posts here. Just a reminder, also, that we have two different “blog ministry projects” going on right now – please consider joining us for Got Milk? and the SOS Project – because although the problems are overwhelming, our God really IS BIGGER!

August 1st, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Phew!* I survived July! The past weeks have been crazy and full and wonderful – I thoroughly enjoyed my girlfriend roadtrip last week and had a successful women’s ministry training and community outreach, celebrated my 31st birthday, and now need to reorganize my mind and house and schedule that seems to have exploded with all the activity around here! Ha!

So, now we’re back to One Summer, One Story! We left off with the Israelites complaining and ultimately refusing to enter the promised land. We’re going to fast-forward 40 years and meet up with Joshua and the Israelites after they had crossed over the Jordan. This is a repeat post from the Abide series, but I decided to share it again here as it is such an important lesson. God was growing the Israelites in faith school, and entering the land was a new chapter of that journey that is reflected in different ways in the faith schools of our own lives! If you’ve missed any of the One Summer, One Story series, please catch up here!

Image via Wikipedia

On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.  The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

Joshua 5:10-12

There’s a funny thing about growing stronger in your walk with Jesus. I have talked to so many young believers who begin to flounder as they grow – God somehow seems less… obvious as they mature in their faith.

There are seasons in our Christian lives when getting to know Jesus feels like a new romance – all fireworks and “aha” moments and times with teary eyes. There are also seasons when we learn to abide in faith, just as we learned to accept salvation in faith. He is no less there, no less active, no less wanting for us to hear from Him and delight in Him. His voice does not always come thundering and shaking our lives – sometimes we must learn to be still and listen to His quiet whisperings.

I wonder if it was a strange transition for the Israelites when they entered the land. This was the promised land they had spent their entire lives wandering in the wilderness for. This second generation of people to come out of Egypt had eaten manna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of their lives. Six days a week they woke in faith that when they moved that tent flap, manna would be there. And every single morning, it was! They had to depend on God for His very obvious provision constantly.

And now, as they entered the land, the manna stopped.

God was still providing for them, but it was less obvious that it was directly from His hand. Now they had to plant, grow, harvest the grain in order to provide food for their families. It was tempting for them to begin thinking that now they were on their own, fending for themselves – rather than continuing to lean on God as the giver of all good gifts. It makes sense that the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ last address to the people before entering the land, is full of the refrain “do not forget.”

As you grow in your walk, you might be tempted to think that God is less active in your life. He is still there, friend. He is still moving and whispering and orchestrating every detail. His voice is often quiet – you must be still and listen. His ways are often difficult to understand, but you must daily choose to trust.

Faith is not a one-time occurrence. Live a life of faith, and ask God to teach you each and every day to see Him in the shadows, hear Him in the quiet, obey Him when it’s hard to understand.

He is still feeding you. Choose to abide in Him and trust that He will continue to meet you in new ways, quieter ways, deeper ways.

Abide. in. Him.

March 10th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Image via Wikipedia

On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.  The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

Joshua 5:10-12

There’s a funny thing about growing stronger in your walk with Jesus. I have talked to so many young believers who begin to flounder as they grow – God somehow seems less… obvious as they mature in their faith.

There are seasons in our Christian lives when getting to know Jesus feels like a new romance – all fireworks and “aha” moments and times with teary eyes. There are also seasons when we learn to abide in faith, just as we learned to accept salvation in faith. He is no less there, no less active, no less wanting for us to hear from Him and delight in Him. His voice does not always come thundering and shaking our lives – sometimes we must learn to be still and listen to His quiet whisperings.

I wonder if it was a strange transition for the Israelites when they entered the land. This was the promised land they had spent their entire lives wandering in the wilderness for. This second generation of people to come out of Egypt had eaten manna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of their lives. Six days a week they woke in faith that when they moved that tent flap, manna would be there. And every single morning, it was! They had to depend on God for His very obvious provision constantly.

And now, as they entered the land, the manna stopped.

God was still providing for them, but it was less obvious that it was directly from His hand. Now they had to plant, grow, harvest the grain in order to provide food for their families. It was tempting for them to begin thinking that now they were on their own, fending for themselves – rather than continuing to lean on God as the giver of all good gifts. It makes sense that the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ last address to the people before entering the land, is full of the refrain “do not forget.”

As you grow in your walk, you might be tempted to think that God is less active in your life. He is still there, friend. He is still moving and whispering and orchestrating every detail. His voice is often quiet – you must be still and listen. His ways are often difficult to understand, but you must daily choose to trust.

Faith is not a one-time occurrence. Live a life of faith, and ask God to teach you each and every day to see Him in the shadows, hear Him in the quiet, obey Him when it’s hard to understand.

He is still feeding you. Choose to abide in Him and trust that He will continue to meet you in new ways, quieter ways, deeper ways.

Abide. in. Him.

You can find all of the posts in the abide series listed here.

November 18th, 2008 by Kristi Stephens

In Joshua 23-24, Joshua gives his final appeal to Israel. I will quote quite a bit today, just to highlight the progression of this address and their response.

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (23:14-16)

“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (24:14-15)

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” (24:16-18)

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” (24:19-20)

But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.” Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied. (24:21-22)

“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.” (24:23-24)

Now, reading through this, notice that Joshua has two commands he repeats: serve the Lord, and throw away the foreign gods. The people are very clear that they intend to serve the Lord… did they ever say anything about throwing away the gods they have with them? There is a deafening silence in their response. They want God and His blessings, but will just keep holding onto these other ones for extra insurance, thanks.

In their polytheistic mindset, they wanted to just add God to the pantheon of other gods that they worshipped. He wouldn’t mind, right? They’re still serving Him too, so why would it matter? Maybe He could even be the “chief” God of the pantheon! Serving Him sounds like a great idea, especially in light of the promised blessings. Purging their lives of the other ones… that would be too extreme.

This speaks to me loudly about our postmodern culture today. God, Jesus, salvation, the Bible and it’s “inspiration,” messages of hope and peace; maybe even going to church, doing community service… those all sound like good things! But, if you start making claims about the exclusivity of serving God – that you cannot serve Him and the other gods we worship – then you are being extreme. Unreasonable. Intolerant.

Unfortunately, I am not just pointing the finger at those “out there” outside the realm of the Church. Christians are becoming more and more comfortable with an extremely split dualistic mindset. I am a Christian, and I am also… [a mother, a teacher, a journalist, a counselor, a businessman, an accountant, etc.] Rather than being compelled by the all-encompassing Truth of who God is in each and every aspect of our lives, we live our lives and occasionally briefly pause to give God his due – a brief prayer, a 10 minute Bible reading, weekly church attendance, whatever. Sometimes we even dress it up and talk about “integrating” our faith into our lives.

Really knowing and serving God is all consuming. You cannot add Him to the pantheon of gods that the rest of the culture embraces – money, success, busyness, entertainment, security…

Rather than discussing the integration of faith and life, we should be talking about the character, nature, and plan of God – ask not how He fits into our lives, but ask how our lives fit into His will.

God’s Word clearly presents Truth. And to fully embrace it means that it will radically change my daily life. Should I recycle? How should I interact with my husband and other men in my life? What activities should I involve my children in? What is the goal of educating them? What should I read? How should I spend my money? Why do I have money? What should I say on my facebook status?

Living in accordance with Truth is so much more than “spiritual activity.” Truly being a follower of Christ is intensely practical. If we think that we are “good Christians” because we had our short quiet time today or went to church on Sunday and now can continue on our merry way, we’re in the same boat as the Israelites. We cannot add God to our pantheon – He wants our complete allegiance.

Here is my life Lord – every aspect, from the large life-changing questions down to the nitty-gritty of the way I waste or utilize my time while my children nap. I choose You. Show me those gods I’ve carried into my life from the surrounding culture – give me the determination to throw them away and cling only to You.

“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua 24:14-15