Selective Memory

Joshua 1:17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you.
Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.

     Sometimes we are very selective in what we remember and what we proclaim about ourselves. We stretch the truth and shrink the lies. We tell fish stories and make excuses. We are not accurate re-tellers of our own lives, our own history, our own failings. We color it to bring out the best, but primarily we cover up the wrongs we have done.
     That is, most of us cover up the wrongs. We live in a day and age where some emphasize, celebrate the wrongs they have done as if it were a badge of honor. They glory in their failings which they see as victories. Their scoring system for right and wrong is opposite from what used to be. They proclaim wrongs right and rights wrong. Good and evil have been exchanged in their minds, hearts and behaviors.
     But they are not alone in shaping their own history. The Israelites were very quick to reshape their history, leaving out their failings. In the final days before they enter the Promised Land they answer their new leader with partial truth about themselves and their history of unfaithfulness. They have spent forty years journeying to the Promised Land to accomplish a trip of about two weeks.
     And that history is one of repeated failure, repeated rebellion and disobedience. And yet when they respond to their new leader, none of that rebellion is reported. Instead they say, "we fully obeyed!" What a crock of lies! It wasn't all obedience and it wasn't all disobedience. They possessed both. They should have proclaimed both.
     And they continue and say they will obey Joshua in the same way the obeyed Moses. If I were Joshua I probably would have shaken my head and said, "What have I gotten myself into?" Joshua was one of two people to have obeyed when the LORD first planned for their entry into the Promised Land. Only two people have believed. Only two had survived.
     Joshua had seen the cycles of disobedience, discipline and repentance. He had seen over and over again the stubbornness of this people, so he knew what was ahead.
     Perhaps that is why the LORD kept telling Joshua to be "strong and courageous." Maybe it wasn't because of the enemies they would face on the battlefield, but because of the stubbornness and hardheartedness of the God's people.
     How much patience has the LORD shown you in your life? Now is the time to return in humility and continue to seek His grace.