Contemplative Bible Reading

Joshua 24:2-3a (New Living Translation)

2 Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your ancestor Abraham …

Joshua is talking to the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of the tribes. He is passing along what Jehovah, the God of Israel told him.

Long ago, he begins, your ancestors worshiped other gods. That is not a good opening line. I mean, your forefathers and all those folks. The current people, a million or more of them, talked about their ancestors. They revered their ancestors. And here we have it, those ancestors worshiped other gods.

I struggle to imagine the culture of the world at that time. I grew up in church worshiping the one God they called Jehovah the God of Israel. That wasn’t the world of Joshua. Joshua’s world had many well-known gods. Every mountain, river, valley, ocean, etc. had a god the locals knew by name. The locals paid homage to their local gods. I don’t know a world like that. I have never heard anyone mention the god of Virginia or the god of Louisiana. Just doesn’t happen.

That, however, was the world and the culture of that time. B U T God took Abraham and …

God changed the world. God pulled Abraham out of that life and taught Abraham to be faithful and listen to Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).

God changed the world. God still changes the world each day. I believe that if I open my eyes I will see God working every day in front of me. Even in this little coffee shop on Saturday mornings. Thanks be to God.