| Joshua 3:5 – “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” |
To consecrate ourselves is to make a conscious decision to focus our hearts, minds, our entire being on God … to set ourselves apart for God. It’s a relational action. You could say that when I fell in love with my husband, I consciously decided to stop focusing on other guys and instead focus all my attention on my husband. I set myself apart for him.
God is a relational God and I love that about Him. It blows my mind to think that God, Yahweh, created us and sent Jesus to die for all of us because He, the Creator of the Universe wants a relationship with you and me!
When we consecrate ourselves, we intentionally direct our attention to God and set ourselves apart for God’s purpose. Joshua was commanding the Israelites to set themselves apart for God and he was commanding them to do so because God was going to do amazing things. It wasn’t an “if/then” situation … IF you consecrate yourselves, THEN God will do amazing things. It was a promise, “For tomorrow, God WILL DO amazing things among you!” Joshua knew that if the Israelites weren’t giving their total attention to God, they would miss seeing the amazing things God was doing and he didn’t want that to happen.
While in this scripture, Joshua is talking to the Israelites, this is a scripture for us today as well. The Bible is the living breathing Word of God and is just as relevant today as it was when the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, what does this scripture call us to do? It calls us to keep ourselves from being lured away by this world and instead give our attention to God, be in relationship with God, and open our eyes and hearts to all the amazing wonders of God around us.
Dear Lord, the world can be such a busy, whirlwind of a place and it can distract us and draw our focus away from you. Please help us today to take a breath, focus our minds and hearts on You. Please open our eyes, our ears, our very being to the beauty and wonders around us and help us to remember that ALL good things come from YOU, our loving Father. It’s in Your Son’s name we ask these things
– Michele Cox
