Joshua 16-19

March 10

Joshua 16-19

Reading through these chapters can be slow and almost painful. There are lists of names of people and cities that we do not know. But behind the names, behind the cities, behind the conquering of the land is God who is faithful and powerful. He is willing and able to fulfill His promises. In Genesis 12;  " The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:1-2, NIV)

After all these years, God’s promise to Abraham is being fulfilled. God provides the land for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel was the son of Isaac, who was the promised son who arrived when Abraham and Sarah were old and beyond childbearing age. But God can be trusted.

God promised to drive out the people who occupied the land and to give the land to the Israelites. Each tribe received their inheritance. After forty years of wandering in the desert, the people went into the land they could have taken when the twelve spies first explored it. But they were afraid. It took forty years of learning. Forty years of trials. Forty years of witnessing God at work in blessing and in correcting before the Israelites were ready to receive the promise of God.

God has promised to give us territory. Are we willing to go and claim it or are we like the early Israelites and only see the giants in the land. "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”" (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

We are to go and make disciples in all the nations that include our community. Jesus even tells us that he has all authority and that he will go with us. As He gives us families and communities, they could be included in the list of people and communities listed in our readings today. They may not mean much to some people, but when they are our neighbors, when they are our towns that are taken for the Kingdom of God, they are important.