How to PUSH THROUGH a challenge and MOVE INTO your calling.

(Joshua Chapter 17)

Ocean Road Book update...

It's been a while since the last chapter was written. With the break in the writing came the need to re-read, re-fresh, and prepare to share from the original notes I took while on our family's vacation back where this journey all started a couple of summer's ago.

The cool part is, as time has passed, I have even more perspective to share. It'll be a little of what I learned initially, and what has jumped out to me as I've studied the chapters again intentionally. I'm stoked to share it with you.

So let's jump back in...

If we aren't careful we can read so fast through the next few chapters that all we see is more names we can't pronounce. We get a steady dose of geography, directions, and where people were settling in to live. It can feel kind of like reading the phone book. Riveting, I know.

​But...

Something REALLY cool happens in the 17th, 18th, and 19th chapters of Joshua that is like finding hidden treasure. I'm going to share three words with you right now that tie the three chapters together.

Clearing.

Calling.

Covering.

One word per chapter. I'll explain more in a bit.

For now...

Joshua, Chapter 17: The Clearing.
 
"It's nothing but trees now, but you will clear the land and make it your own from one end to the other." (The Message version)

Here's the backstory:

​What happens when the inheritance given to us doesn't seem like enough for us? Perhaps we aren't experiencing a lack of opportunity or provision in our lives at all. It might just be that in order to experience all the the Lord has set to give us depends on work we need to do.

​The Tribe of Manasseh was receiving their inheritance in this chapter, but they became a little, shall we say, obstinate. They started to whine, mumble, and feel a little sorry for themselves. I imagine their version of what receiving an inheritance should look like would be more like a Super Bowl party and less like work.

Hence the word I mentioned previously: CLEARING.

​Sometimes our "inheritance", doesn't come pre-packaged/easy. Whatever we think we deserve requires us to check our ego and dump a bucket of hard work water on the fire in our belly that is entitlement.

In this chapter, the crew from Manasseh decided they needed a little break. (v.13) They where tired. Reading between the lines it seems like they mustered up enough energy to do some work, just not the quality they were capable of. They stopped short. They settled. Instead of driving the Canaanites out, they let them work for them. It was easier that way, but it wasn't the best way.

Have you ever been there?

​Close enough. Good enough. That'll do.

The whole pie is more valuable than a slice.

They were content with a partial promise, but God wanted to give them the whole thing.

​And as the story continued, (v.14) the people took it one step further. Not only were they stopping short, they were attempting to complain that they got the short end of the stick. The people complained about the lack of land. And here's the point.

Don't ask for a hand-out, when you are given a hand-up.

Work for it.

(*44)We need to see the forest for the trees by seeing our situation differently...as opportunity.

There are times in our life where the next great thing in our lives is absolutely going to depend on our ability to see things from 30,000 feet. Our human instincts to complain about the obstacles we see in our immediate path need to take a back seat to the opportunity that is there once we get them out of our way. We don't always have a lack problem, we have a looking problem. We have more than we need, but we are going to have to bust our tails and work for it.

For the people of Joseph, it meant literally clearing a forest.

Much like the call that Haggai makes when he charges the people, and leaders of his day to finish building the Temple, instead of their own homes and comfy lives first.

Haggai1:7-8

​This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord.

Work. Legit, hard work.

​And this is what Joshua did next...

In the middle of their temper-tantrum, Joshua lays down a challenge. He offers them more, but receiving it will depend on their response. (v.15)

He tells them to "go up into the forest and CLEAR LAND for yourselves."

See it again?

GO UP INTO.

Hit the road, Jack. Bust your tail. Get er' done. Roll your sleeves up. Dig in. Time to climb, get after it, and you'll see what's waiting for you on the other side of it.

Now, you'd think that would have done the trick, right? Joshua dropped a pretty solid half-time speech. Certainly the people put on their favorite runners and were off.

Except (v.16)

​The people of Joshua replied, "The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain and have iron chariots, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and this in the Valley of Jezreel."

Translation?

Waaaahhhhh...this isn't fair! The hill country isn't enough. We're getting a raw deal.

The real issue?

The flat land had enemies in it, that they were scared they couldn't remove from it.

​Joshua told them to clear more land and they'd have enough room. Sweet, problem solved. But instead of grabbing an axe and getting to work, they shifted to the next excuse they could find. And honestly...I think this was their issue all along.

Their enemies had heavy machinery, and they were scared out of their minds that they wouldn't be able to take them on. The trees were a convenient cover up for their real concern: The Canaanites.

Who are your Canaanites?

Come on...we all have them. It's figurative, not literal. But we all have them. Some obstacle that we never fess up to being afraid of, so we put up a false wall of excuses to anyone that will listen so we don't have to admit it.

The trees were their false wall, the Canaanites were what really terrified them.

The sooner we can remove the hay bails of excuses we stack, the better off we'll be, so we can take down the real issue in our heart that is holding us back.

​How about a few practical examples:

It's not about the other people you are up against for the job, it's the very real fear of being seen as not qualified, or a failure when you don't get the interview, or the job...so you don't send in your resume.

It's not the busy work schedule you have, it's admitting you could be done sooner, but then you'd have to actually be a better spouse, parent, or friend. The long hours make you look like a hero, but being present in the lives of those closest to you scares the crap out of you.

​It's not that eating healthier is more expensive, or that you can't afford a new wardrobe if you drop the weight, or that the medicine helping you isn't on your insurance...it's you having to admit you need someone to hold you accountable, and you are worried you'll bail from the process that you need to commit to so you are living the healthy lifestyle you need to so that you can stay on this earth.

I could go on and on. The fact is, there isn't one of us that doesn't complain about the forest for the trees. There isn't one of us that is fooling anyone about what the real issue(s) is/are. God sees it in us, just like he saw it in the people of Joseph. They were whining about lumber, when it was really about feeling inferior.

See the correlation in our lives?

So what do we do next?

CLEAR THE LAND.

We need to do what we can, with what we have, where we are.

We can't worry about what might happen a few steps down the road, we have to simply bring our best effort to what is right in front of us, and trust in the Lord that he knows what is best for us.

​Look at what Joshua tells them in the next verse (v. 17)

​But Joshua said to the house of Joseph-to Ephraim and Manasseh- "You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not one allotment 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."

​Cue applause. Cue Hollywood orchestra. Cue whatever is banging around in your head and heart right now that will get you up out of your pity party, and on to clearing whatever obstacle, land, or otherwise is serving as a giant, negative, distraction in your life right now. 

That's Joshua, Chapter 17. That's only one third of the meat on the bone that is:

CLEARING.  CALLING.  COVERING.

​For now, let's hit pause and look at some reflection questions. But once that time is over, get ready to move from CLEARING...to Chapter 18...THE CALLING.

PERSPECTIVE POINTS:

(*44)We need to see the forest for the trees by seeing our situation differently...as opportunity.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

What "land" do you need to clear in your life right now?
What "work" do you need to do?
What "promise" have you been shown that hinges on your diligence to work for it?
What "limitation" are you complaining about, that was actually given to you to grow you as you overcame it?
What "though" challenge ("though the Canaanites have iron chariots, and though they are strong, you can drive them out.") do you need to push through to unlock all that God has for you?

That is...

How to PUSH THROUGH a challenge, and MOVE INTO your calling.

We will unpack THE CALLING in the next chapter, Joshua 18.

For now...

#ClearIt

#PushThrough

#Through>Though