“. . . choose you this day whom ye will serve . . .” Joshua 24:15 (KJV)
All of us get a little retrospective from time to time. Perhaps we even get a little regretful about some of our choices and decisions. Such reminiscing reminds me of the following poem.
“The Road Not Taken”
by Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Mr. Frost sees humor in human regret. He personifies one who, given two choices, chooses but in retrospect regrets his decision and longs for what might have been (the road not taken). Frost is chiding the person who after surveying Choice 1 and Choice 2, chooses #2 but later regrets that he didn’t choose #1 (the road not taken).
Oh how fickle we humans are! When life is exciting, we press forward in confidence, but when circumstances sour, we begin to rethink our choices and decisions. In today’s passage, Joshua is challenging his family elders to carefully consider the choices before them and decide for the future.
Joshua is not indifferent about whether Israel’s elders choose to serve God or not. He is not offering liberty to reject God and refuse to serve him. Rather, Joshua places emphasis on the great influence their choice will make in Israel. Their choice will impact the future of Israel for good or for bad.
Like Israel, we are travelers, and two roads diverge before us. Our decision will make all the difference in our lives, our ministries, our churches, our families, our communities, our nation, and our world.
Dear Father, thank you for giving us choices. Strengthen us to decide for our future. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be encouraged today as you make choices and decisions,