In this morning’s reading, Joshua continues to assign Israel their land grants. But there is drama! The descendants of Joseph complain that their allotment is too small. They want more elbow room! But is the land really too small for them? Are they really too big for the allotment?
The descendants of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land as our homeland when the Lord has blessed us with so many people?” Joshua replied, “If there are so many of you, and if the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you, clear out land for yourselves in the forest where the Perizzites and Rephaites live.” The descendants of Joseph responded, “It’s true that the hill country is not large enough for us. But all the Canaanites in the lowlands have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shan and its surrounding settlements and those in the valley of Jezreel. They are too strong for us.” (Joshua 17:14–16, NLT)
Is the land too small? Is the enemy too strong? Joshua isn’t buying their story! It’s not that the land is too small; both the faith and the effort of Ephraim and Manasseh are too small! The land is large enough, but clearing it will take a fair amount of work. The enemy that occupies their land is determined to stay, and they have chariots of iron…scary!
Though they have an allotment of land, God is not handing it to His people without some effort on their part. It will take faith to overcome the scary and hard work to clear the land! So what does Joshua do? He tells them to get to work and encourages them that they will be victorious! In other words, he doesn’t give them the “easy” land, especially since they have many hands to make light work!
Then Joshua said to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph, “Since you are so large and strong, you will be given more than one portion. The forests of the hill country will be yours as well. Clear as much of the land as you wish, and take possession of its farthest corners. And you will drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.” (Joshua 17:17–18, NLT)
What a picture of the Christian life! We have a determined enemy, the devil, with iron chariots; he and his problems do not go away quickly. We tend to want the accessible land, the easy way out; we just want things to “fall into place!” But that is not reality! And like Joshua, God doesn’t buy our story that elbow room is the real problem. The problem is usually our faith in Him and our effort to obey and do His will.
So what does God do? He encourages us to be strong in the power of His might (not ours), strap on the armor of God, stand our ground, hold up the shield of faith, stay alert, persist in prayer, and put our hands to the plow—in other words, let’s get to work!
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. (Ephesians 6:10–11, NLT)
Yes, the battle is the Lord’s, but the elbow room is ours!
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9, NLT)
Thank you for joining with me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Joshua 16:1-18:28.
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