“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” (Josh. 24 : 19.)
At the end of his days Joshua called Israel together to remind them of the goodness of the Lord to them. He could say: “Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.” He also solemnly charged them to fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and uttered those memorable words: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” The people’s immediate response was: “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods”, but Joshua’s reply was: “Ye cannot serve the Lord.” This was a lesson which they had great need to learn and it is as necessary for us today as it was for those whom Joshua addressed.
Many in Israel, no doubt, had very inadequate views of what serving the Lord meant. An outward approach to God in His worship and ordinances was all that was necessary in their eyes, and when they had performed those services to their own satisfaction entertained the thought that God would be well pleased with them too. This attitude to the Lord’s service is as prominent today as it was then. Many are so satisfied with their endeavours in the service of God that they are ready to say with Jehu, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord,” or with others, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?”
Some conception of what the worship and service of Jehovah involves may be gained from the words of the Lord to Moses at the burning bush: “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” God is a holy God, a sin-hating God. How then can the sinner approach unto Him far less serve Him? In another part of Scripture we read: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb. 11:6.) If we are to honour Him and serve Him then we must believe in Him. The Lord is a great God and can never be satisfied with the kind of service which would satisfy men. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:9.) In view of this may we be brought to say with another, “who is sufficient for these things?”
If we are ever truly to serve the Lord, the first lesson for us to learn is: “Ye cannot serve the Lord.” What a humbling lesson it is for the sinner to learn — to understand that all one’s professed zeal and earnestness in serving the Lord is worth nothing if the source of it all is their own strength. The true people of God, too, have to learn this same lesson — that all efforts to serve the Lord in their own strength will avail nothing. “Ye cannot serve the Lord.”
How then, it must be asked, can the Lord be served? Is there any who can and do serve Him? Yes, — all those who serve Him in reliance upon divine grace. It is through the strength which divine grace imparts that the living in Jerusalem serve the Lord, the King. They are utterly dependent upon Himself for the strength they need to do those things which are pleasing in His sight. The gracious and exercised soul seeks grace and strength daily to perform that which is but their reasonable service — serving the Lord in singleness of mind and heart. If our eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, we will understand in some little measure at least the service of which He is worthy, and we will endeavour in the strength of His grace to perform it.
Is it our daily and constant exercise to serve the Lord? Or are we serving other gods, even the lusts of our own hearts? There is no profit in such a service, but in serving the Lord there is great reward. What service is it that He requires? Essentially it is this — obedience to His revealed will. May David’s charge to his son, Solomon, be applied to our souls: “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.” (1 Chron. 28:9.)