In His Presence We Find Where We Belong


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. They have so much more to have but apathy has settled in. Thankfully, Joshua will not let them stay that way. 

Yet there is an important framework from which the people are instructed concerning the rest of the land and the 7 tribes who have yet to occupy their specific area. Notice verses 1 and 10:
Joshua 18:1 (ESV) Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.
Joshua 18:10 (ESV) and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD. And there Joshua apportioned the land to the people of Israel, to each his portion.

Joshua 18:1-10 is bracketed by two references to the presence of the Lord at Shiloh. This is the fulfillment of God's promise to Moses concerning the land:
Leviticus 26:11–12 (ESV) I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

God promised Israel that HE Himself would dwell among them. His presence would be their truest blessing and everything they needed would flow from that reality.

Deuteronomy 12:5–7 (ESV) But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

This teaches us an incredibly important lesson: We learn where we should be FROM the place where God is. 

Do you want direction in your life? Get alone with God! Spend time in His presence. He will lead you and show you. Notice Joshua's command from verse 6:
Joshua 18:6 (ESV) And you shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

They were to move out FROM the place of God's dwelling and discover where their tribe should be. What a picture of the life of faith. We do not wander aimlessly as God's people. We come into His presence through the blood of Jesus, we hear His voice, we experience His will and then we are sent out to go where He wants us. 

The presence of the Lord is a powerful place, it is an instructive place, it is an informing place. It helps us determine what we are to do and where we are to do it. When the people came back, the lots were cast in God's presence and they would know what land was theirs. Gone would be the fear they weren't living up to their potential. For the next one and a half chapters, the descriptions of these 7 tribe's boundaries were patently clear. God wanted no ambiguity for His people. 

He doesn't want ambiguity for you. If you have confusion around where you are at or where you should be my advice is, take time to be in God's presence, hear from God's voice and move out in God's direct leading. He wants you to do this. He knows what's in store for you. 

It's going to be great!

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