if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”
Paul stated the same principle as above in his letter to the churches of Galatia:
Galatians 6:7-10 (ESV)
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
The law of the harvest is a real thing in God’s word. When we obey God’s word we have blessings:
Psalms 1:1-3 (ESV)
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
In the end of the book of Joshua, the leader is giving the nation one last warning. He is about to die and wants to remind them about the key to success in following their God. It is actually rather simple. We only have to obey God and we can receive blessings from God. It does not mean there won’t be hardships and wars. The nation would still have to fight the evil around them. These other gods around them were to be resisted. That would take a fight. However, Joshua wants them to know that success for the future is based upon their obedience to God’s commands. The nations will not obey these words, as we read in the next book, Judges. But the formula for success is true. It was then and it is now.
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