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Danger of Good Times

Words of Faith Final

Danger of Good Times

Words of Faith 10-15-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Joshua 23

    [14] "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. [15] But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. [16] If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."

 

         Do you remember the Good Times?  The virus, that is.  The warning would come in the form of a terrifying E-mail telling of a terrible computer virus called "Good Times" that would erase your hard drive and damage your computer. 

         The only problem was that Good Times was not a virus; it was a hoax!  There was no virus with the characteristics ascribed to Good Times.  The e-mail "warning" was written by a couple of pranksters in 1994 who posted on AOL. Since then, it traveled the Internet electronic mail system, spreading fear wherever it cropped up. The message is just convincing enough that people spread the news to all of their friends. Strangely, the biggest damage that resulted from the "Good Times" hoax was that people later tended to be a little less vigilant when they receive a warning about a virus.

           Good times can be like that!  We can be lulled by a hoax or genuine good times into thinking that nothing bad is likely to happen.  Good times can be perilous in matters of the Spirit.  So, it was in Israel in the last days with Joshua. God had won for Israel a terrific time of peace and prosperity.  Yet Joshua, the great aging leader, was worried.  He had warned the Israelites about cultural intrusions and unholy alliances with other nations.  Now, he warned them about the most dangerous threat that comes in "good times"-- the threat of idolatry.

          Idolatry? It seemed inconceivable that Israel could fall into idolatry and worship other gods.  After all, these people had seen more miracles and evidence of the one true living God than anyone!  But the reality is that humans tend to be remarkably self-centered. They tend to operate on a "what have you done for me lately" mentality.  They were lulled by the good times.  The miracles of the Conquest were now decades old, just ever more distant stories. The new generation had not experienced the wonder of God at work.  Most people had only experienced peace and prosperity!  They had the benefits of the Lord's great deliverance, but they could not clearly remember His mighty works.

          So, among Joshua's final thoughts was this deep concern that the Israelites should remember that the promises of the Lord are good!  Every promise had been fulfilled, and not one had failed!  That is why violating God's covenant by worshiping other gods were so serious and the consequence so dire.

          The truth is that it is easy to be lulled and even seduced by the "good times".  We can find ourselves opening up to the idols that we swore we would never approach.  We can easily be caught up in the modern-day idols of jobs, careers, materialism, recognition, and things-- or in the age-old idols of the occult.  The good times pave an easy path to idolatry. 

          Joshua's solution was simple.  Remember the promises of God and how not one has failed.  Recall with all your heart and soul His faithfulness.  Don't get far from His magnificence. 

 

           Father God, keep me close to You.  Keep me focused upon Your faithfulness even in the good times when it is easy to forget.  Keep my heart trained upon Your and Your wonderful promises fulfilled.  In Jesus' Name. 

 

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2005, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.