What Are You Waiting For?

I love today’s reading in Joshua 17:16-18: the fear is so human, but Joshua’s response is just like God. In this portion of the book of Joshua, Israel is dividing up the land that the Lord promised them as their inheritance. They were to dispossess the peoples of the land and inherit their destiny. In the same way, God has a destiny for each one of us. He has promises that He has made to you. He has a destiny for our church, and now is the time to begin to advance into what He has given us.

It came turn for the tribe of Joseph to receive its inheritance, they realized they needed more land, and they also came to Joshua complaining saying, “And all the Caananites who live in the plain have iron chariots…!” Iron chariots were the ancient day equivalent of tanks. From a human perspective there was reason to be afraid. There is always a human reason to fear advancing into God’s promises. Only God knows what lies ahead of our church’s advancement into our future, and in your personal calling and destiny—but rest assured there will be battles. The future is not free—it is won through spiritual warfare. That can be a scary proposition, but Joshua’s response is so matter-of-fact, so nonchalant, so oblivious to everything except God’s promises! In the same breath, Joshua both deals with the land issue and gives them the answer to the iron chariots. He doesn’t even make a second sentence! You can almost see him deal with the problem and then drop the last part over his shoulder as he’s walking away, “and by the way, though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out.” What? That’s it?

You see, God had given a promise and a specific instruction. 1) The land is your inheritance. 2) Go and take it and I’ll give it to you! Apparently that was good enough for Joshua. He didn’t care what the other side had, did, or said…it was really immaterial and irrelevant. What was relevant was the fact that God had spoken. Fear is the greatest distraction and deterrent to living in God’s destiny and promise for us. If God has spoken it, then what in Heaven, hell, earth, sea, or sky could possible take His promise away from you? What is it that you are afraid of? What is God’s promise to you? What has the enemy put in your way? What are you waiting for? Never be afraid to do what God has asked you to do! Go and take it… "you can drive them out!”

Taking the land together!

Pastor Kyle Bauer