“Now that the land was under Israelite control, the entire community of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle. But there remained seven tribes who had not yet been allotted their grants of land. Then Joshua asked them, “How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given to you? Select three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to explore the land and map it out. They will then return to me with a written report of their proposed divisions of their new homeland. Let them divide the land into seven sections, excluding Judah’s territory in the south and Joseph’s territory in the north. And when you record the seven divisions of the land and bring them to me, I will cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord our God to assign land to each tribe. “The Levites, however, will not receive any allotment of land. Their role as priests of the Lord is their allotment. And the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh won’t receive any more land, for they have already received their grant of land, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them on the east side of the Jordan River.” As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua commanded them, “Go and explore the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will assign the land to the tribes by casting sacred lots here in the presence of the Lord at Shiloh.” The men did as they were told and mapped the entire territory into seven sections, listing the towns in each section. They made a written record and then returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. And there at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord to determine which tribe should have each section.”
Joshua 18:1-10 NLT
Men plan but God decides what will happen. This was the consistent finding of the people of Israel in their campaign against Canaan. Time and time again, they would run into victory, but only under the precise dictates of God’s directions. This made for a swift and terrifying campaign to their enemies. But as man does, the community then began to rest. Joshua calls them to continue the campaign now that they understand the victory. For Christians, this is a salient command. To often, we fight hard to understand God’s sovereignty and power in our lives, only to waste it. We may conquer the wicked kings of our hearts, but we still leave his court and his ways as systems in our lives. God requires more than this. He wishes for us to have a complete revitalization and this means continuing to strive beyond the initial moment of salvation. We must sanctify our lives completely. Our charge is to take the whole land that we were given, because now we know that we can.
JOSH McGARY. COM 