In Joshua 22, we read Joshua’s best counsel for the tribes returning to their homes after working hard to help their fellow Israelites cross into the Promised Land. He tells them this: “But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
I notice the expression “hold fast” and spend some time thinking about this Hebrew verb. It means to adhere, to cleave, especially firmly, as if with glue.
As if with glue!
I imagine myself glued to the strong presence of the Lord. I think of moving about my day glued to Him. What can come against us that the Lord cannot handle? It brings new insight into another image–this time in the Greek–of being glued fast the the Lord and safe in His keeping. In Romans 8:37-39, we read this: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We cannot be separated from Him. We hold fast to Him, stuck like glue.