365 Reflections

I never realized this before in Joshua but evidently, he asked for and received the inheritance of his choice upon completion of his work leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land and dividing up the territories tribe by tribe. Joshua 19:49–50 (ESV) When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. 50 By command of the LORD they gave him the city that he asked , Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it. There is a firm reward for those who would serve God. It may not seem like it at times, but it will come. And I love the little detail about Joshua ASKING for the territory and getting what he wanted by the "command of the Lord." I also love the name of the city in his possession. The name "Timnath-serah" means, "Portion redundant; abundant portion"  Joshua did not get scra...

Joshua 19:9 (ESV) The inheritance of the people of Simeon formed part of the territory of the people of Judah. Because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them, the people of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance. Simeon’s inheritance in the promised land was in the midst of the tribe of Judah. This is very relevant for two reasons and it beautifully ties the Old Testament stories to the New Testament reality we have in Christ. Of course, we know Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Jacob prophesies over Judah at his death that the “scepter will never depart from” this tribe. That is fulfilled in Christ who is crowned king forever in heaven. But what about Simeon? We don’t hear very much about this man or his tribe. But what we do hear relates to all those Jesus came to save. First, we hear about Simeon in the book of Genesis when he plots evil against the Shechemites for raping their sister Dinah in Genesis 34. He and Levi team up to de...

How do we know where we belong in life?  It is the great question many ask, is it not? Accompanied with that question is the resident fear that we may not be living up to the fullest of our potential. I'm sure you can relate. For that reason we may need to take a close look at what happens in Joshua 18. Once again the people have stagnated from occupying the land. Listen to Joshua's speech: Joshua 18:3–4 (ESV)  So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you? 4 Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land. They shall write a description of it with a view to their inheritances, and then come to me. Joshua instructs them it's TIME TO MOVE. This need of instigation to capture what was theirs by promise has become a recurring theme for Israel. It is getting a bit redundant. The...

Joshua 17:14 (ESV)   Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” This passage in Joshua 17 reminds me of many of God's people (and myself at times). The people of Joseph are large and numerous. Yet they feel the portion of land given them is limiting.  So they come to complain to Joshua about what he's given them. They are actually phrasing it to suggest Joshua is ignorant of how much the Lord has blessed them. As in: " Don't you see how big God has made us? Why did you rip us off?" This is how we can act sometimes. We feel like there's more in us than what our conditions are allowing to come from us. And then we feel like someone needs to "give it to us." Note Joshua's response in this unfolding back and forth: Joshua 17:15 (ESV) And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people...

Joshua 16:10 (ESV) However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor. Joshua 17:13 (ESV) Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. The people of Israel were not supposed to let the inhabitants of Canaan live. They were allowed to subject any external nation that attacked them into forced labor but all those inside the borders of the land were not supposed to live. Sadly, the tribes started following the example set by Joshua in Joshua 10 concerning the Gibeonites and make slaves of the foreign nations among them. Of course, this applies to our spiritual life. We cannot compromise with sin. We must not allow sin to live in our mortal bodies. Romans 6:11-14 (ESV) Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your ...

Joshua 15:63 (ESV)   But the Jebusites , the inhabitants of Jerusalem , the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day. This little side note at the end of a very long list of cities belonging to Judah's allotted territory in the land makes for a stark contrast to the previous section identifying the over 120 cities the Israelites occupied in this territory. One city stands apart from the list in glaring fashion. One city will not be occupied by Israel. One city still has to be taken. What city is that? The city of God.  It's a small reminder to those who read the text with the benefit of hindsight that eventually a chosen King and faithful shepherd in his father's house will one day eventually come in and conquer this city to make it his own where he will sit on his throne. Jerusalem today is a city with three major religions vying for its control and hoping for dominance one day soon. The Jews, C...

Joshua 15:16–19 (ESV) And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 17 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 19 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. This passage presents an important and often neglected practice of God's people. James says, " We do not have because we do not ask." (James 4:2) . The Lord's people called to pray constantly and in many ways:  Ephesians 6:18 (ESV) praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints... The Lord ...

I sometimes think we treat the Bible as a "do not do" book. All the while I read a ton of "go do" in it. The Bible is God's Word to mankind who has "fallen short" of His glory. The implication of that expression is that we were not meant to fall short. We were intended to hit the mark, to attain the Glory of God! Because the scriptures make clear that we are not living as we should and must come to terms with it if we are to change and become what God intended we could be tempted to cast dispersions on this book as if it were against us. Nothing could be further from the truth. The scriptures are FOR US. Want proof? Romans 15:4 (ESV) For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope . So we see a theme running through the Bible of a certain few people who dared to believe that though their station was not as it should be (because of si...