Joshua 19-21

God’s message to me: Life is not an endless struggle. God gives us an inheritance which we must claim. It may be a ministry, a job, a business or something else. We have to go out and take it. This fits a classic saying I heard from someone I used to work with. “Work really hard for 10 years and manage your finances through it and you will never need to work again.” The man was a financial advisor and knew his job well.

We will need to work for what is ours and, that begins with knowing what is ours. God intended us to do great things but discovering which great things involves a little study, prayer and soul searching. Once we know our destination we can start heading there and once we arrive we can enjoy it in peace. The Israelites fought several years of war to take their land and then rested on it in peace. The priests and Levites worked until a certain age and then retired. The people, generally, spent several years building their business or developing their lands and then could enjoy their wealth afterward.

Today we work until retirement and then rest. Many see retirement as 65 or older but the truth of what my friend told me is inescapable. The bible has something like 4 verses on money management for every verse it has on prayer. If we manage our money properly and are willing to work hard to earn it for a few years we can retire much sooner. Some are able to find a job doing what they love and, as such, they never feel like they are working. Such people rarely retire. Some will feel a duty to continue for others. First responders, soldiers, doctors and the like may feel they need to continue as long as they can be effective. The rest of us will retire as soon as the finances say we can.

Consider this, starting when you begin to work, you should look to save money for your future. Most young people have the retirement at 65 so ingrained that they don’t even think they can do otherwise unless they hit the lottery. Savings isn’t a priority. If the work statement is true a young person with a decent job at 18 could retire at 28-33 years old and spend the rest of their life financially free and capable of pursuing interests that they love. Some of those interests may even be profitable. I have seen the results of this with military people. Joining the military at 18 they pursue a 20 year career and retire with a military pension and benefits at 38. Still quite young they take advantage of military finance programs to get business loans with easy terms and start a second career without a boss. 20 years of military discipline tends to make them a little more successful than average and whether they pursue the new business for 10 years or longer they never have to concern themselves to much with money. Imagine retiring from your first career after 20 years with a pension and substantial retirement savings because you had low expenses in the military or, as a civilian, you worked more than one job and pushed to make the extra money. Your 38 years old and have nearly $1.5 million in your retirement account. That’s calculated starting from a part time minimum wage job with 5% growth in income per year for 20 years. That barely beats inflation and the savings went from 20% at 18 down to 5% at the end of 20 years assuming a drop in savings as the person moves into their own place, gets married and has kids. God can do it for you and for your children.

Promises: God will give you rest. When the Israelites obeyed His will they had to fight for their goals a few years and then could rest from battle and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Fields they didn’t plant, homes they didn’t build, fortunes they didn’t seek all earned through the efforts to claim the land God gave them and remove the ones God rejected from the land. Is that so different from working a few years in a job.

Commands: Claim what God has intended for you. You can never enjoy the gifts of God until you claim them. Salvation by grace is the greatest gift of all but until you accept it and claim it for your own you will never see the gates of heaven.

Timeless principles: I mentioned it earlier and I’ll repeat it. “Work hard for 10-15 years and manage your money and you will never have to work again.”

How can I apply what I’ve learned: The bible is filled with advice on stewardship and there are plenty of resources available in the secular world as well. Find the job that God intended you for and do it. Don’t be worried about failure, if you do what He wants you cannot fail. Manage your resources and your finances(don’t forget your tithes and offerings) and prepare for the future. You will find rest. Remember the lesson of Joseph. By setting aside 20% of the crop during the years of plenty Egypt had enough food to keep it’s own people and those of surrounding countries fed during 7 years of famine. They sold their stockpiles at profit so that at the end of those 14 years they were among the richest kingdoms on earth.

more to learn for in-depth study: These chapters complete the promise of the promised land. The remaining land is divided among the Israelites, Joshua Inherits the choice city he spied out and the cities of the Levites are given to them with the cities of refuge assigned. The tribes conquer all enemies and are given rest with no enemy willing to stand against them. The tribe of Dan even takes territory outside the assigned boundaries when a neighboring country starts a bit of a skirmish and looses. The tribe of Dan conquered the neighbor took the city and inhabited the land.

tomorrow: Joshua 22-24

Joshua 16-18

God’s message to me: Interestingly, this passage was used in my pastor’s sermon yesterday. He discussed the children of Manaseh, one of the sons of Joseph, had been allotted an inheritance which they failed to take. They saw the enemy and decided it wasn’t worth the fight. Then they came to Joshua and the High priest wanting to know why they didn’t have enough land for their large tribe.

Joshua asked them why they hadn’t taken what was theirs. The local inhabitants had repelled them with little or no fighting. Joshua told them to take the land and not be afraid of the locals because God had given them the land and they couldn’t fail.

The pastor was teaching on living up to your potential. The tribe of Manaseh was not living up to their potential because they let fear and laziness get in their way. In addition to that lesson this was a time for Joshua to see the other tribes were growing as well. Several tribes had no inheritance yet because much of the land had not been conquered yet.

Joshua sent spies into the unconquered land to survey it and divide it in lots so that the remaining tribes could have their tribal lands. When they returned with the map divided into seven regions for the seven remaining tribes Joshua and Eleazar cast lots to decide which territory would go to which tribe. From there it would just be a matter of conquering the land and moving that tribe into it. This passage ends halfway through describing the borders of the lots and which tribe inherited each.

Promises: God has given us the potential to do great things. We don’t get to sit around waiting for it, we need to find out what it is and take it. The bible is filled with God’s promises to us. Only by studying it can we learn what we are supposed to have and supposed to be. If it is promised to you in the bible it is yours for the taking and nothing can stand in your way.

Commands: Once we have learned what God has in store for us it is our job to take it. This isn’t a tough or dangerous chore but it does require action. If you won a mansion on 80 acres of land in California you wouldn’t have any reason to complain about not getting it while you continued to sit in your New York apartment. You can’t have what you won’t take. You would have to go to California and claim it.

Timeless principles: You will never live up to your potential until you act on that potential. No one gets elected to the presidency of the United States by sitting on their couch and complaining about public policy. They must get up and take action, sharing their opinion, forming policy plans and campaigning for the office. Ross Perot did a great job of pointing out the problems the country faced while most other politicians were trying to keep attention off the real problems. The major reason he didn’t get elected is that he was doing an advanced version of sitting on the couch and complaining. He pointed out many problems but proposed very few solutions. The solutions he did propose were not much different from what others proposed. Mr. Perot did half the job. If he had completed the job and developed strategies for fixing the problems he may have been one of the most influential men of the 20th century.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Find out what I am meant for and do it. God has a plan for each of us and has promised a great many things to all of us. By studying the bible we can find out what we are meant for. By actively going out and taking what we have been promised we can prosper beyond our wildest dreams. This doesn’t mean stealing and it doesn’t have to mean war. If you do what God designed you for you will win. If he meant you to be a truck driver then get in a truck and do your best, you will prosper and do well as long as you keep trucking, at least until God shows you that He wants you elsewhere. If he meant for you to be an executive then learn what it takes to be good at the job and look for a place to work where you can demonstrate your ability. You will soon find yourself moving up the ladder of advancement to the position of authority and prosperity God meant you for.

more to learn for in-depth study: This section and those around it give the borders of the land of Israel and the borders of each tribal land as well as the cities they inherited. For those interested in the details it wouldn’t be hard to figure these out using a map of the region and a little research. Many of the cities are still there in some form and a little research can find the locations of those that no longer exist.

tomorrow: Joshua 19-21