“Only be careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you. To love the Lord, your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul.”
– Joshua 22:5
Joshua 22:5 is a powerful verse. It is an exhortation. Just think about this for your life today. If you’re listening to this in the morning, like all day today. If you’re listening to this at night, just as you close your eyes and then arise tomorrow, be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you. Be very careful to observe the commandments of God. And what are those commandments? And he starts to list them. So just listen to all these things that start with to do this, to do this, to love the Lord your God.
God, we praise you for your love for us.
This Verse Leads Us to Praise God
That’s the first one. It’s the first and greatest commandment, right? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Live today, live tomorrow to love God with all that you have. To walk in all his ways. Walk-in his ways. What a picture of what God desires for our lives of the way to true life, to abundant life, is walking in his ways. And to keep his commandments. That’s how we walk in his ways, by walking in obedience to him. God, help us to walk in obedience to you.
And then listen to this phrase. “And to clean to him.” To cling to God. Oh, even just that phrase. May that be true in your life, my life, today, tomorrow. That we are clinging to God at every moment, in every situation we are holding fast to God. With every thought, with every desire, with every word we’re clinging to God, and every trial and every challenge, we’re clinging to God.
And then the last one, “And to serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul.” You and I have the privilege of being servants of God, the perfect master who loves us and leads us for our good, for others’ good, for his glory.
This Verse Leads Us to Ask for Help in Our Life
Yes, God help us to live like this. God help us today, tomorrow, to be very careful to observe these commandments, to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. God, we praise you for your love for us. We pray that you’d help us to live with love for you, with affection for you, with wholehearted devotion to you.
Help us to love you. Help us to walk in all your ways. God, keep us in step with your spirit, we pray, according to your word, according to your commandments. Help us to keep your commandments. Help us to obey your word today. In every thought, in every desire, every word we say, every action we take, God, please help us to keep your commandments and to cling to you.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for the Spread of the Gospel
May it be said of us at the end of each of the days we had clung to you all day long. As we walk through all kinds of different things in our lives, we pray that you’d help us to stay close to you, help us to cling to you and to serve you. We want to serve you with all our heart, with all our soul. God, we want to do this for our own sake.
We want to do this for other sake. So, God, please help us to point others to you. God, help us to lead others to love you, to walk in your ways, to cling to you, and to experience the joy of serving you. We pray for that right around us. Help us to share the gospel today. And God, we pray for people far from us, as you have commanded us, oh God, to work and to pray for disciples to be made in all the nations.
Joshua 22:5 Leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
We pray for the Bhanghi of Pakistan, this unreached people group, where there are little to no followers of Jesus. Also, God, we pray that the Bhanghi of Pakistan would know your love for them. Furthermore, we pray that they would hear the gospel and the good news of your grace in Jesus. And they would be brought to love you with all their hearts. And that they walk in your ways, and keep your commandments. Help them to cling to you, and to serve you with all their heart, with all their soul. God, we pray for the Bhanghi in Pakistan. We pray that you would raise up laborers to take the good news of your love to them.
God, we pray that you’d help us to live in light of Joshua 22:5 today, tomorrow, each day in our lives. And oh God, by your grace and for your glory, we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
