Once we have decided to heed the call to reset, what must we do? In order to get back to that place where everything was fresh, we must go through a process of purification. Jacob knew that truth. Sin had taken hold where he resided, so purification had to take place.
Sometimes we have to distance ourselves physically from things, the activities and the people, that have hindered us from a relationship with God. Sometimes more than a physical distance is required—there must be a separation from the proclivities and mind-sets that keep us from God.
There can be no purification without separation, and there can be no separation without some agitation. Sin has attached itself to you the way dirt and grime attach themselves to your clothes. To remove it, there has to be agitation. In real life that can mean disruption. There are relationships you’ve been in where you’ve been calling people, wondering, Why don’t they call me back? What did I do? God is saying, “You didn’t do anything. I am purposely agitating this thing, removing you from the people and things that bring down your value so I might take you to where you’re supposed to be.”
Thank God for that kind of agitation. That is God telling you to stop stalking people he has released from your life: Quit stalking them on Facebook and Twitter. Utilize the delete button on your phone. Stop being so loyal to losers. Stop being so committed to carnality. Stop being so focused on foolishness.
Jacob and his family members had to let their deities go. They had idols, false gods among them, and since those were among the things that stood in their way, they had to remove them all.
What about you? Where are your idols? Whatever takes your time, money, or devotion away from God has become your God. Those things clothe you in filthy garments. God says, “I need you to remove the idols. I need you to cleanse yourself of their dirtiness.”
We gradually take on the attributes of the people and places we are mixed up with. We begin to look like them and behave like them, and to those who view us, we are indistinguishable from them. They become the things that define and defile us. God says, “It’s time for you to change your garments.” The psalmist, after he had recognized just how defiled he had become, said in Psalm 51:7, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Reset involves creating distance between you and what was. Jacob told his wives and his entourage, “You are going back to Bethel with me. Give me all the gold out of your ears and everything that relates to idols.” Jacob took all of that and hid it under the terebinth tree near Shechem—in other words, he buried it. That’s an important moment because there are things we need to bury too. The trouble is, too many of us bury things like a dog buries them, shallowly, only to come back to them later on a rainy day. You might say, “I’m done with him. It’s over. I bury this relationship.” Then your options run out, and you’re feeling lonely, and the next thing you know you’re digging him back up again.
If you are going to bury it, bury it! Hold a funeral and walk away. Move on. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Jacob did just that, burying those things in Shechem, then moving on, because his destiny was in Bethel.
Reset involves creating distance between you and what was.
How Long Will You Linger?
But what about you? How long will you linger between Shechem and Bethel? How long will you tiptoe back, unable to leave Shechem behind for good? Say good-bye, and move on, once and for all, to Bethel.
The positive consequences of doing so are there for us to see in Jacob’s story. Once he had buried the past and moved on, he was given protection. “And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them,” says Genesis 35:5, “and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”
Jacob had done it right. He buried his past, took his family, and went to Bethel, where it had all started and where he had been called. As the text makes clear, he still faced enemies, as we might, when we leave the past behind. You letting the devil go doesn’t mean the devil is going to let you go. But the Bible says God will send out a heavenly memo and let every hater know, “Don’t you touch my children because I fight their battles.”
When you do what God tells you to do, God will often block attacks. In fact, you may not even know about it, as he often fights battles behind the scenes. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper,” says Isaiah 54:17. He’s got you covered.
Once you have made your way back to Bethel, get ready to reconnect with God. This is what God has wanted all along: for you to experience true connection with him.
Many years ago my refrigerator suddenly stopped working. When I looked behind it, I determined that it was plugged in. That was the extent of my knowledge of refrigerator mechanics. Since it was over my head, I called a repair service. There was a service charge the moment the man walked in the door, but he knew more than I did, so even though money was hard to come by at that point, I was glad to pay it. The tech started by taking a look behind the refrigerator at the plug.
“I’ve already done that,” I said, maybe a little too self-assuredly. He took the flashlight from his tool belt and shone it on that plug. Then he reached down and just eased it in about half an inch. At that moment the power came back on. Believe me when I tell you it had seemed connected to me. I just didn’t have an experienced eye.
Some of us look like we’re plugged in, but we’re not. We’re just half an inch or so from the power source. You might shout, but you can’t cast out demons. You might run, but you’re still depressed. You might jump up, but the devil has taken over your family. I am here to tell you that God wants you to have full power. God wants you to have complete connection. He wants you to plug back in, and when you plug in, you once again have what you’ve been missing.
The problem of being disconnected from God can be dramatic. Your life is filled with chaos and has become one drama after another. Nothing you’ve been trying to accomplish is working out. You can’t seem to make anything happen. Your career, your relationships, seem stalled or worse. You’re giving your all and—nothing.
“What’s going on? Why can’t I sleep at night? Why can’t I get in a healthy relationship?”
“What’s going on, pastor? My money’s a mess. Why am I going through this?”
It’s because you’ve lost your connection with God, and that’s an invitation to confusion. God is not the author of confusion. God is the author of peace. Reconnecting, resetting, will reorient your priorities. He says, “When you connect with me, you’ll discover it’s not about the stuff that money can buy. It’s about the stuff money can’t buy.”
God is not the author of confusion. God is the author of peace.
Then, like Jacob, you must build your altar. What does that look like? An altar is meant for sacrifice. In this case the altar is a symbol of your willingness to sacrifice. That is something we have too often lost sight of here in America. We have been spoiled. We have creature comforts. We have food in our refrigerators. We have cushioned pews in air-conditioned churches. We have nice cars and buildings with climate controls. Many of us have garages so that when it’s raining, we just pull in and walk into our homes and offices without getting wet.
Want a lesson in renewal? Look no further than our brothers and sisters in Africa. They don’t have easy access to food. They don’t have air-conditioning. They don’t have cars, much less climate-controlled ones. Still, they fill places of worship every Sunday morning. Some of them are getting up at 4:00 a.m. and walking five or even ten miles on blistered feet to sit with lizards and scorpions, sometimes in tents, sometimes in stadiums, to worship. They’re not wondering what they’ll be doing come Sunday. They’re not worried about the weather. They fill places of worship, and they are wide-eyed and happy to be there. They are praising God and giving him the glory. Their worship is pure and so holy. And we have to be begged to come to church in our big, air-conditioned cars, and too often we sit with our arms folded as the preacher preaches. We have much to learn about the concept of sacrifice.
The altar is a symbol of your willingness to sacrifice.
In the days of Jesus the temple was for offering sacrifices for atonement. Animals died on the altar. If you want to regroup, if you’re ready to reset, something within you has to die that you might live like you have never lived before. When you build your altar, your past has to die, your self-entitlement has to die, your me-first attitude has to die. Just as you don’t want to dig up what you’ve buried of your past, don’t bring something to the altar and then take it back the next week.
God says, “There are some things I need you to let die so you can experience the joy of the Lord.” This is your invitation. God has been telling you to regroup. You’re not praying like you were praying. Perhaps your Bible is open only on Sundays now, and you’re praying only over your food. God is saying, regroup.
If you want your fire back, if you want to experience the passion of a new believer again, something within you must die. What relationship, what addiction, is holding you back? What is hindering you from regaining your place in God today?
If you want your fire back, if you want to experience the passion of a new believer again, something within you must die.
If you’re ready to build your altar, you can’t worry about what others will think. You can’t be concerned with who does or doesn’t like you and who does or doesn’t want to be around you. And you have to realize that no one else can build your altar for you.
If you have heard God’s voice saying, “It’s time to get back to Bethel,” then begin the process. Leave Shechem, return to Bethel, and build the altar to the one who found you in your mess.
Conviction and Choice
“I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
—JOSHUA 24:13–15
Many people live between two realities. On the one hand, they want to be spiritual. They want to receive blessings from the Lord and walk on his path. On the other hand, they can’t let go of the world. This world has pleasures they mistake for blessings, and it’s hard for some people to choose. Some, in fact, are content with living between those two realities, and others simply haven’t made clear where they stand with regard to the things of the Lord.
God expects conviction. He expects us to be on fire for the things of the Lord. Revelation 3:16 says that if you are lukewarm, “I will spue thee out of my mouth” (KJV).
Still, it’s worth making clear that God also wants us to have balance. It is possible to carry anything, even our expressions of commitment to the things of God, too far. Nobody wants to hear someone they’ve invited over to watch the big game prophesying over your life five minutes in. There is a difference between spiritual living and spiritual buffoonery.
God expects conviction. He expects us to be on fire for the things of the Lord.
But now, just as in the days of Joshua, God is looking for commitment, for people who are serious about stepping up and living out his truth, and so it’s important that we learn the lessons of those days. Israel had come into the promised land. Her enemies had been vanquished. Each of the tribes of Israel had received its inheritance. It was a time of peace and prosperity, of hope and blessing. The promise had come to fruition.
But the people of God must have been aware that in the midst of their comfort, they had allowed themselves to become self-satisfied. They had been lulled by their very prosperity, by the goodness of the Lord upon their lives. They had intermingled with the gods of the Canaanites. The idolatry around them had infiltrated their hearts.
All of us have to be mindful that we can drift into such states as well. None of us is beyond letting our guard down. The moment you walk into a place where the promises of God have been made manifest, it is easy to find yourself slipping. Before long you find yourself enmeshed with the cares of the world.
So many people, as long as the job keeps paying, as long as their health is good, as long as everything is going well, are content. In America, if there is no natural disaster, if there is no terrorist attack, there is less inclination to think about God. But the moment we meet tragedy, everybody wants to come together. We call prayer meetings at the Capitol. The news channels bring on the preachers, asking, “What is God saying?”
You need to know that in times of ease, in times of plenty, you had better have your relationship with God right. You might want to question the authenticity of that relationship if you only go to him when you’re in trouble. Joshua understood this completely. He literally stood up and challenged the people of God, telling them that God demands full allegiance, full investment. God wants us to live completely for him.
Solemn Assembly
Joshua did this in the course of a solemn assembly, in which he gathered the people and leaders of all the tribes of Israel. It was a momentous event.
Any time the people of God come together, you witness collective power, an undeniable synergy. Hebrews 10:25 urges us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.” One of the great examples took place in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, when the people came together “with one accord” (v. 1), and power came down and filled them.
Things begin to happen when the people of God gather. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name,” Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “there am I in the midst” (KJV). Something powerful takes place when we are together and the power of God is among us.
Joshua called the people together and reminded them of the power and wonder of their history. “God has redeemed you,” he told them. He then reminded them of the foundational event of their history, when the entire nation of Israel was reset, saying, “God has delivered you out of the land of Egypt!” He took them through the Exodus to the settling of the promised land, telling them how God had manifested his power and glory on their behalf time and time again. He reminded them of the victories they had achieved. He wanted them to realize—to feel down to their marrow—how far God had brought them.
Something powerful takes place when we are together and the power of God is among us.
Look over your own life and recall where you were when the Lord found you. This is something you may be reluctant to discuss because you don’t want people to realize just how messed up your life was at one point. Like so many people, you want others to think you’ve always been well-dressed, that you’ve always been in control, that you have always had it going on.
But there is power in the testimony of those who will talk about where they’ve come from. If you knew where the Lord found many of us, you would understand why we run like we run, why we shout like we shout, why we are so certain that the power of God has been at work in our lives. Only God’s power can change lives the way ours have been changed. Only God’s power is able to turn a life around the way your life was turned—or the way it needs to be turned. Week in and week out I see the power of God all over my church. Joshua saw it stretched out in front of him as he called the people together. His job was to help them see it, the way mine is to help you see it.
The Necessity of Sacrifice
Joshua was saying to them, “Understand this very clearly, Israel, that without the presence of God, you would never have the covenant of God, but without sacrifice, God’s presence would mean nothing for you. Understand that God has always been among you, but God only admits or allows his presence where there is sacrifice.”
Every successful athlete knows the importance of sacrifice. There is first the reality that to be in top condition, you have to dedicate a great deal of time to training. Those who don’t use the off-season for conditioning are at a severe disadvantage when the next season’s training camp opens. Then there is the study of playbooks and a great deal of practice, running plays, and getting a feel for game conditions. Finally, there is the fact that since a team is a unit, individual egos and accolades must be secondary to team accomplishment and unity.
Everyone in a successful marriage knows the importance of sacrifice. A me-first attitude in a marriage is a recipe for disaster. Marriage is a partnership best nurtured with giving and selflessness.
And every successful Christian must know the importance of sacrifice. We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned. In other words, we are called to give of ourselves, to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). We all know what this looks like: you tithe, give money to worthy projects, and spend your Saturdays cleaning up the local playground, delivering meals, or visiting someone in an assisted living or nursing home. There are so many ways in which our time and our money can make a difference. Done in a spirit of selflessness, you quickly find that something that might seem onerous at first becomes pure joy, an expression of the spirit working through us. Loving God by helping others is an ideal way to manifest God’s presence in the world.
In all areas of life the benefits of sacrifice far outweigh the price of anything we might have given up. Self-sacrifice in athletics leads to success on the field. Within marriage, it leads to harmony. And on the spiritual front, it leads to the kind of riches only God can provide.
Every successful Christian must know the importance of sacrifice.
Those riches were on Joshua’s mind, particularly in the way the people had benefitted from the faithfulness of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joshua called the people to understand God’s power, his presence, and his provision. They were in the place they had dreamed of, and he reminded them of the words of Deuteronomy 6:10–12:
“So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
This was the promised land, and Joshua had to remind the people to view it as such and to be grateful. Abraham’s ticket to God’s blessings was obedience. Here, God was asking, first and foremost, that Abraham’s descendants simply not have amnesia. God led the people of Israel to the promised land and did everything he said he was going to do. Joshua was there to remind the people not to act like they had done it themselves. “God provided for you and has protected you,” he said. “Look at all that God has done. You’re alive, in Canaan, with things you don’t deserve, safe from your enemies. Just don’t act like you did it yourselves. Recognize the source!”
The True Source
It’s the same with us. What can you say you have earned with your goodness or dedication to the Lord? What do you really deserve when it’s all tallied? Can you in good conscience sit in church with your arms folded and act like you did it all yourself?
As Joshua called the people to rededicate themselves in light of God’s blessings, we are called to be mindful of the favors of God that have echoed through the ages and redounded to our benefit. God has been present in our own darkest times. He is there when you are in the valley of the shadow of death. He is there when friends and family forsake you. The notion that Israel’s success was its own doing or that your life is your own doing is foolish. What I have, God gave me. What I am, God made me. Where I am, God brought me. What I know, God taught me.
In both cases—Israel’s and ours—God knows exactly when to confront those who have wandered off, who have let their attention drift from his central role as the source of our blessings. In verse 14 of chapter 24, Joshua says, “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!”
[God] is there when friends and family forsake you.
“That is not the way we are to conduct ourselves here,” he is saying. “This is not Egypt.”
“Fear the Lord” means, of course, to view God with the reverence he deserves, to acknowledge the awe he inspires. “Before you left Egypt, you had a reverence for God,” he tells them. “Now that you’re prospering outside of Egypt, you don’t.”
It’s that way with so many today. When everything’s good, when there’s no crisis, reverence for God wanes. People change his Word to suit themselves. They desecrate God’s holy places with evil intentions. They blaspheme God’s name. They put a cross on their necks while they’re dropping it like it’s hot. They come to church lit. They lust even among the people of God.
There used to be a time when even the wino walking down the street would cross the street and take off his hat when he was about to pass the church because he had a reverence for God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and few have that fear the way people used to have it.
“Put away your gods,” says Joshua. Put away the things that lie between you and God. Put your toys up. When you were a child, you thought as a child, you understood as a child, but you’re grown now. Put away those gods. Serve the Lord with sincerity.
The Real Thing
The word sincere, interestingly enough, comes from Latin words meaning “without wax.” It stems from the days when potters would make expensive pottery, but if the pots cracked during the process, they filled the cracks with wax, then painted over them. That way no one could tell there was a deformity—unless they put something hot into the pottery. Then the heat would melt the wax, and the pottery might break apart. But when Jeremiah saw the potter working at the wheel in Jeremiah 18, he saw that this potter didn’t put wax on marred pots. He shattered them and started over. He did not take that which was cracked and try to make allowances for it or hide its imperfections.
Smart buyers knew if they held a piece of pottery up to the sunlight, they would be able to see the flaws under the paint. God says there are a lot of people living in such a way that you can’t tell they’re not the real thing. They praise, they lift their hands in worship, they run, they sing, they make a lot of noise in church, but if you hold them up to the light, you’ll find they’re full of wax.
It’s up to us to make up our minds and say, “Lord, I want to be the real thing! I don’t want to be touched up with wax. I want to serve you sincerely. Let whatever is in my life be real.” The question is, are your priorities in order? Joshua 24:15 says, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.”
And who or what are you going to serve? Are you going to serve your car? Are you going to worship your job or your career? Are you going to serve the love of your life? Are you going to worship your jewelry? Now is the time to choose. But remember, whatever you choose today to worship, when you get in trouble, turn to that. If you choose your car, when you’re in trouble, go to your car and say, “Help me!” When you’re sick, turn to your job. When you’re down and out, run to your jewelry for comfort. When your money dries up, go to your boo and see what happens.
“Lord, I want to be the real thing!”
You know and I know what you can expect if you do that. We both know where your help comes from. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
As for Me and My House
Joshua offers himself as a paradigm. “But as for me and my house,” he says to the multitude, “we will serve the LORD” (24:15).
We are responsible for ourselves and our households. I don’t have time to be in your business. I have plenty to deal with in mine. Like Joshua, each of us needs to develop backbone and declare plainly, “Me and my house will serve the Lord.”
Instead, we have far too many wishy-washy saints. We don’t know where they stand from one day to the next. We need saints who will say, “Lord, I want to be what you want me to be.” Too many of us are mercurial. We are easily cowed, easily swayed. The opinions of others can move us into or away from almost anything. You and I are not here for those people. We need to reach the point where we declare, “I’ll let nothing separate me from the Lord.”
It is time for consecration. Look carefully at verses 16–17:
So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed.”
In other words, “Since you put it that way, Joshua, we have come to our senses! We remember that God did all this!”
Everything I have is on loan from the Lord. It isn’t my house. It isn’t my car. It isn’t my money. No one but God did it. I would be delusional if I did not serve a God like that.
My question to you today is, if you had a list of priorities, where would God be on that list? And if God has to compete for your time and attention, your love or your money, then is God really your first priority?
Two Realities
Let’s juxtapose two things for a moment. Let’s look at how faithful you are to two opposing realities—God and your boo, meaning the boo you had, the boo you have, or the boo you want. Let’s see how faithful you are.
For your boo, nothing is too expensive. You would go into debt to impress your boo. “I want the best one you have,” you tell the clerk in the jewelry store. “This is for somebody special.” You’ll save up for your boo. When it comes to God, though, “That’s just too much money to be giving to the church.”
For your boo, no weather is too bad to call off a visit. There can be a tornado watch, you might have to walk through the mud with your umbrella to get to the car, you may get soaked walking to his or her door, but you’ll do what you have to, just to get close. When it comes to God, the sky can just hint at rain, and you’ll say, “I think I’m going to stay home and just stream the service,” when streaming is actually meant for folks who are unable to get to the church and for those who are out of town, not for the locals.
For your boo, no distance is too great. You’ll drive all the way across town, you’ll go to every mall in the county, looking to find just the right thing, but when it comes to God, well, every mile counts with gas prices the way they are.
For your boo, there’s no such thing as “It’s too late,” or “It’s too early.” You’ll get up at one in the morning when you get that call, and you’ll get dressed and be there within the hour. But for God, you can’t stay alert even through a ninety-minute service. You leave before the benediction. You’re just too tired to sit through it all.
For your boo, no sacrifice is too great. You’ll carve out time, take a vacation day, take off work, do whatever you have to do to be with your boo, but for God, “I’m busy. I’ve got too much to do. I’m working overtime.”
When it comes to your boo, your joys are written on your face. We can tell when you’re boo’d up because you have that glow and pep in your step. Every time we see you, you’re smiling and happy, but for God, you sit in church looking as though you’re sucking on lemons, like you’ve been tore up from the floor up.
You have to make up your mind that God is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Get excited! Get over the top! Radiate the truth that God has been too good to you. When you praise God, let people know. Tell somebody, “I searched all over and couldn’t find anybody greater than him. I’ve made up my mind that I’m on the Lord’s side.”
So what about you? Are you going to run the streets all night long or are you going to walk the paths of glory in his sunshine? Are you going to twerk or are you going to trust God? Are you going to be racked with cowardice, or are you going to be powered by commitment? It’s time to make up your mind, to rededicate yourself to God while times are good, to give God glory while the battle is raging, to praise him while the race is being run. It is time to reset.
Radiate the truth that God has been too good to you!
REFLECTIONS
• Purification requires separation. What are the things God is calling you to separate yourself from in order to enjoy the full fruits of your reset?
• Are you caught between Shechem and Bethel, or can you honestly say you have left Shechem behind?
• Meditate on where the Lord found you, and where he might take you.
• Where, honestly, is God on your list of priorities?