You Can Do It

Good morning my friends,

So, Israel has not completed their task of driving out God's enemy from the territory but they have started dividing up the land. Joshua is taking the time to allot each tribe the territory assigned to them. Can you imagine the enormity of this task? Can you imagine the dissatisfaction of some of them. It would be like dividing up a decorated birthday cake for twenty children. Some would want the green frosting and others the red, and some would want large pieces and others small.

I noted what was said to the tribe of Joseph when they expressed dissatisfaction with their allotment. It is not dissimilar to how I have had to speak to a number of my Secondary students:

But Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh-"You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment 18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out." (Joshua 17:17-18)

The house of David was looking for a place to retire to, that would not require a lot of work. Here they would have to clear the land and fight for it. Other tribes were given lands already prepared and with no enemy in sight. It is not unlike the many apparent injustices that my Secondary students have to face. Imagine the thought that we would actually expect them to work to achieve anything. It may seem like a task is hard before we begin it but once we have started and we have decided we are going to do that thing we discover abilities that we never knew we had. Our God is an incredible God. He ask only that we put or hand to the plow and he will provide everything for our labour.

It is not unlike math. Math is not always the easiest. It requires that we have an open mind to learn. We can look at math as if it were like those iron chariots, ready to be the instrument of our demise. If that is how we see it then we will not put our hand to the plow with all our heart. We will give it a half-hearted try and then quit. Yet, if we entered in with the mindset of defeating those iron chariots then we would discover that God actually gives us the ability to win; to understand and do the math.

Joshua acted like a supervisor, he was taking no excuses: "though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out." Even this looks like it is impossible to do, even though it looks like it is impossible to understand, even though it is hard, you can do this. No excuses.

We often forget who we are. The house of Joseph has just spent five years watching teh Lord put the enemy to flight through his people, yet they still did not believe. We often forget that we ar the children of God in a manner far different than Israel. We are possessed by God which means his power flows through us. We can do all things through Jesus. The Word of God states it and millions of believers have proved it. The fact is, you can drive them out. So stop whining and get on with it; there is work to be done. :-)

Have a great day. God bless.