Joshua 15-19 - Allotments

Joshua 15:14 - In the midst of a rather dry passage about the allotment of the land that reads like a property deed, is this: "And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak." not bad for an 85 year old guy. If he can muster that kind of zeal at 85, having sustained it for 45 years, why can't I muster the motivation to read, pray and share my faith regularly? Sigh.

Joshua 15:16 - Joshua Caleb promises his daughter to the one who captures a certain part of the land. He's 85, so his daughter is, what, 60 something at least, right? :-D

Joshua 15:63 - More evidence that Israel did not complete driving out the Canaanites. So why, back in Joshua 11, did it say that "Joshua took the whole land"? I suppose Joshua did all that God had called him to do, it was up to the people to finish the work.

Joshua 16:10 - More unfinished work ...

Joshua 17:12-13 - And more ...

Joshua 17:14-18 - The people of the tribe of Joseph complain that they don't have enough land, but Joshua points out that they do, they only need to clear the forests and drive out the Canaanites living there. When they complain that the people are too strong (They have iron chariots!), he stands firm, saying that they can do it. It seems that the people, when together and under Joshua's leadership, are bold, but on their own they are weak and timid.

Joshua 18:3 - This passage seems to confirm it, "How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land?" Joshua asks. But I wonder, it seems that up front God charged the tribes with allotments on the east side of the Jordan to stick with their brothers until the land was conquered, why wouldn't that apply here? If I was of those tribes challenged to go and finish the work, I'd be wondering why I had to go it alone. It seems that once the big battles were won, the unity of the nation began to falter and each tribe was left to fend for themselves, which doesn't seem to have been God's plan.

(I skimmed over much of these chapters, since it was about ancient boundaries in a land I'm likely to never see. :-D)

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2 Comments

"If [Joshua] can muster that kind of zeal at 85, having sustained it for 45 years, why can't I muster the motivation to read, pray and share my faith regularly? Sigh."

Aaaaaaahhhh!!! I'm banging my head against the wall over here! Why must zealousness and passion always be tightly coupled with the "top three" ICOC spiritual disciplines (if evangelization is classified as a spiritual discipline)? Doesn't it take "sustained" zeal and passion to live a righteous life? To present your wife as radiant by washing her with the Word? To raise your daughters to know and fall in love with Jesus and follow Him in our depraved culture?

In addition, why is your view of who you are in Christ still tightly coupled with the practice of the "top three" spiritual disciplines? Nobody, nobody, nobody will be able to have enough life-altering quiet times, deep, intimate prayer times, or be allowed to be used by God to help bring lost souls into the light and grace of Jesus Christ enough to be worthy to win the unconditional love and approval of the Father. That's why the Son paid the penalty of our sin by His perfect life and sacrifice on the cross!

And to bring the third Person of the Trinity into the process here, there's only so much human effort we all can "muster". The work of the Holy Spirit is much, much, much more than we can ask for or do on our own power. No man, woman, or discipleship partner can bring that spiritual strength, focus, and resolve.

OK... I'm done. Now that I think about it, I used to feel the way that you feel and used to make the same statement until about five years ago when Kip's Jesus (who required me to do an ever shifting, ever increasing list of works perfectly for me to have the love of God and salvation) was exposed for the fraud that he is and the unmerited grace of the authentic Jesus Christ came on the scene.

X-Ray - Thanks, I needed that. No, srsly, I did.

While I've been feeling some conviction from the Spirit on 'the big three', and that needs to be addressed, they do not define who I am in Christ. I meditate on him constantly throughout the day, I pray in small snippets as I go, I daily fight to live as he would live, I seize every moment to point my girls toward Jesus and other things.

The comment was more about how I feel convicted that I'm not doing enough in these areas (and I believe that's from the spirit more than from peer pressure), not that I feel that I'm less of a disciple or not 'faithful' for failing in those areas. But, that they were the three that rolled off my tongue suggest that perhaps there is a bit more 'deprogramming' to do.

I would say that we are less old school ICOC here in Columbus, based on my limited observations, than in other places. Give a listen to some of Doug's messages on our web site. We did a month on the Spirit in March and Doug felt like there was too much more to cover, so he pushed April's topic back and kept going. I'd love it if you'd come up and visit some time, I think we're doing great things here.

(Hey, look - I shared my faith there. ;-D)



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  • X-Ray - Thanks, I needed that. No, srsly, I did. While I've been feeling some conviction from the Spirit on 'the big three', and that needs to be addressed, they do not define who I am in Christ. I meditate on him con...

  • "If [Joshua] can muster that kind of zeal at 85, having sustained it for 45 years, why can't I muster the motivation to read, pray and share my faith regularly? Sigh." Aaaaaaahhhh!!! I'm banging my head against the wall...

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