Let Me (Re)Count the Ways

But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship–the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorite in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord (Joshua 24:15, CSB).

My boss called me over one day because she “needed my elephant memory.” I always laugh, and pray my brain can recall a particular patient’s name, what injury we were seeing them for, or whatever other bit of information is needed in order to be helpful.

Though I am pretty good at remembering names, I am, at times, quick to forget God’s faithfulness. Despite His excellent track record, my brain still fails to recall this truth during difficult moments.

Have you ever found yourself in a valley wondering how God is going to help you climb out?

Have you ever experienced difficult moments when it feels like God is absent?

Have you been in a wilderness season wondering when God is going to show up to guide you?

Me too.

I think we can sometimes be an awful lot like our Israelite friends–we look back and wish we could skip the hard parts of drawing closer to the Lord. Instead, we should look up, and remember God. Even when we get in our own way, He has proved to be faithful time and time again.

I recently finished the book of Joshua. Chapter 24 is titled “Review of Israel’s History”, and it is devoted to recounting the ways of the Israelites as they journeyed toward the promised land.

Joshua 24:15 says: “But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship–the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorite in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”

Spoiler alert: they fail a lot. They look back, they choose disobedience, they are impatient, they grumble at the Lord. I think we can relate. But we have a choice to make–who will we worship?

I plan to do my own exercise titled “A Review of Katie Filiatreau’s History.” Join me?

Grab a pen and paper. Spend some time reflecting over the last five to ten years, or longer, of your life. Write down some of the ways God showed up in your valley or wilderness seasons.

How did God surprise you? How did God show up in ways you didn’t see coming? How did your heart grow closer to Him even when He felt absent?

When we pause to count, and recount, all the ways God has been faithful in our lives it serves to lift a burden of stress, anxiety, fear, or anything else the enemy may be using to weigh us down today. God is always greater.

#trust #christ #thenarrowpath #faith #hope #gratitude #discipline #jesus