No Complacency Allowed

Joshua 18:1-3 - The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The country was brought under their control, but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance.  So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

God had directed Joshua to the city of Shiloh...where he would reside among them.  It was a peaceful city that lay somewhat in the center of the territory God was dividing between all of the tribes. Everyone picked up and moved their tents … and met there as the Levites fulfilled their duties of tearing down and rebuilding the holy tabernacle for its last time.  This would be its permanent home.

Joshua must have looked around him and seen the rote way they pitched their own tents around the tabernacle as they had in the 40 years they wander in the wilderness.  He frustration with none of them asking for their own permanent portions of Canaan is clear as he reprimands them for not being more zealous about settling a piece of this land for their own.

It is another reminder to me to guard my heart against the same kind of complacency. It is easy when God brings us to a peaceful… rich season of goodness… to want to rest in its pleasures and riches. Why would we want to leave a good thing…for something that requires more work and effort? Perhaps that is why God allows some of the difficulties we experience in life. He is using those times to force us to take our faith to deeper levels of trust and obedience.

Father…thank you for the reminder that I must guard my heart against complacency. Forgive me for the times that I have let myself rest to long in the blessings you have allowed in my life…taking them for granted.  Help me to always look for opportunities to enlarge my territory…as Jabez prayed in 1 Chronicles 4. Amen.