“But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.” (Jos 23:8 AV)
Good advice, regardless of the context. Yet there is context to consider here. These are the last words of Joshua to Israel. He is old and well stricken in years. He knows he is about to go the way of all flesh. He has led Israel through thick and thin. They have fought many battles together. The two and a half tribes have just made a covenant with the remaining tribes that neither was to forget nor deny the other. They had, for the most part, conquered all their inheritance. Those nations left were a means for God to test the resolve of Israel’s faithfulness. Now, they stand the moment when leadership will once again change. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worse. Israel, it its best day, stood on victory’s ground. They had promised to love the LORD with their whole hearts. They promised to follow the law. They promised to worship only the one true God. It wouldn’t be long before they broke their promises. The thing is, this challenge should be a daily one. In other words, if we make it a daily goal to cleave unto the LORD, it will soon become a lifestyle.
Being married for almost 40 years, I know a bit about cleaving. Cleaving is a feeling of unity between two people that is painfully inseparable. Two people walk together through shared experiences and shared dreams. They know each other almost better than they do themselves. When two people are cloven together, they know what the other is thinking and can often finish the other’s thoughts. Outside of our walk with God, there is no other relationship like it. None. Not with our parents. Not with our children. A marriage relationship is unique and is a shadow of what our relationship with the LORD should and can be. When two people cleave together, they complete one another. Without the other, the one not what he or she was meant to be. Loneliness doesn’t even come close to explaining the feeling when one is absent from the other. They change each other. When done right, they change one another for the better. Marriage is a blessing from God that, if done in the will of God, is a slice of heaven on earth.
This cleaving is even more meaningful when the saint cleaves to the LORD. There is a bond that surpasses the love of people. This cleaving is so permanent that Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. One thing that makes marriage special is the growth that comes thereby. Joshua told Israel to cleave to the LORD from this day forward, as they were in the present. In other words, cleaving has with it the idea of continuance, permanence, and change. If one were to ask a newly married couple if it were possible to love their new spouse any more than they do at that moment, inexperience would answer, probably not. They cannot imagine how they could love this person and more than they do at that moment. The thing is, as two people live a life together, love matures, changes, and deepens. This is Joshua’s plea. Continue in the love you have for your God, but in the process, love Him even more. I think this is the key to walking by faith and obedience. It isn’t enough to accept Christ and then stay as we are. We are establishing a relationship with almighty God. Our Creator is not the most important personal relationship we have. Cleaving means adhering. It means becoming inseparable. It means yielding the heart in vulnerability to someone whom you can trust. As we started out the day we accepted Christ, we must continue. We must remain cloven to the God who created us and saved us. As we started, we must finish even better.
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