Joshua 13:1-7

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotion. This morning we are at Joshua chapter 13. We're only seven verses, verses 1 through 7. God's going to tell Joshua he's an old dude. He's getting old. He's got stuff to take care of. So, let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll find out what God had to say to Joshua in his old age. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for what a blessing it is to get to read your word. And Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would please teach us. Help us to understand it, Lord, and please God, we need your help to actually apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Joshua chapter 13, the first seven verses. Now, Joshua was old, just in case you didn't know what that was, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, "You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is the land that yet remains, all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites, from Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward, which is counted as Canaanite. The five lords of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, also the Avites from the south. All the land of the Canaanites and Merah that belonged to the Sidonians as far as Aphik, to the border of the Amorites, the land of the Gebalites, all and all Lebanon toward the sunrise from Baalgad below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance of Hamath, all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as the brook Mesharoth, and all the Sidonians. Them I will drive out from before the children of Israel. Only divide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh. Well, what is this about? So, we got our three questions, right? A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So, what's this about? Joshua's old. He's not going to be able to lead them forever. At this point, I think he's like 84 or 87. The guy's The guy's getting up there, right? Uh he's he's not going to last forever. And so God says there's still a lot of land to take down south and over by the coast, the land of the Philistines, right? Uh Gaza heights, right? They're still fighting in Israel today because Gaza was never taken by the Israelites. And so he's got to divide up all the whole the land, right? There's different areas they haven't taken yet in the north, in the south, on the other side of the river, right? There's all sorts of land they still got to take care of. And so he says, "You need to divide the land by lot, right? Each tribe needs to get a certain apportionment. And they need to go and they need to take care of that their own area themselves." So, that's what this is getting at. It is really setting up what's going to happen in the next uh couple of chapters, right? So, the end of chapter 13, 14, uh 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. Ooh, almost there. Uh yeah, and 19 is all going to be about the different tribes and their inheritance. And then we're going to get into the cities of refuge and things like that. But this is really kind of like this transition chapter into okay, how's the land actually going to be divided? How is the the the different tribes going to get their inheritance, but also how's the law of Moses going to be applied with these different cities that the Levites are supposed to have? And And then, right, how what what where's Joshua going to live? Deborah asked the other day, "What we haven't really heard of Caleb for a while. We're going to find out where he gets his land. Right, so there's things that are coming next. So, this is this transition into this historical kind of land deed area of the book of Joshua. So, that's what this is about. What's the best verse to summarize this area? Well, I would say verse seven cuz it really sets up the scene for it. But, I'm going to also just point out, right, verse 13. Now, Joshua was old and advanced in years and the Lord said to him, "You are old and advanced in years." Right? This is where I'm going to jump into this calling and I might be stretching here and that's fine, right? You're not going to accomplish everything in your life. One of the things I've realized is there's more books that I want to read than I'll ever have time in my life to read. There's more projects I want to work on in my life than I'll ever have time to work on in my life. And the reality is is that the Lord knows it's not up to any single one of us, but we all have limitations and God's going to accomplish his purposes and it's God who is bigger than any one of us singularly. And so, we need we need the full tribe of Israel, right? And we need the full body of Christ to be working together. And that is a good thing. Right? Joshua didn't go in and conquer the land, be strong and courageous, and do it all by yourself. No, the Lord was doing this. He was using Joshua in a really amazing way. But, the people had some work to do. Everybody's got a part to play. So, what's your part to play? What's What's your place in the inheritance? Where is it that you are supposed to go? And what are you supposed to do for the Lord? Right, there's each one of us only has a certain number of days. The Lord numbers our days. So, are Are using our days for his glory? Are we using our time for his kingdom? What are we desiring? What are we chasing after? What are you doing? I don't know I don't know if you're watching this and and you're in your teens, maybe you're in your 20s, maybe you're middle-aged. Maybe you're like Joshua and the Lord's saying you're old. He knows it. What are you doing in these last days? Are you resting in him? Are you passing on the faith to the next generation? Are you investing in the kingdom? Are you raising your family to the glory of God? Are you doing your schoolwork? Your studies? So what? You might further his kingdom. We each can only do so much. The reality is it's appointed for every man to die and then after this the judgment. So do we use our time well redeeming it for the Lord? Now, I know I've got a real hard time with this, especially like when I'm not feeling well and stuff. I I'm not saying that you're taskmaster like you know, God's got a task list for you to do and you got to make use of every single moment and you never take a rest. No, I don't think that that's what God's got a whole bunch of rest in the Bible. Right, there's one in every 7 days, there's jubilees, there's jubilee years, there's times of feasting, there's times of of of just enjoying each other. And so I think there's you need baking periods in your life for rest. So please don't hear this as like a pro-productivity like get your stuff done for God. No, this is just saying like you can't actually get it all done. But can you be faithful today? Can you try to love him today? Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you gave us in Joshua a pretty amazing example of what you can do through a person. Lord, this isn't just some type of moral lesson. Father, you had given Joshua his faith. He trusted in you. He loved you. And he saw your goodness. But Father, even after you had brought him into the promised land, there was still more work to be done that he couldn't get done. And so he trusted you to be faithful to your promises. And so Father, we see things that seem undone even now in our lives. People we love who aren't walking with you. Nations that still need evangelized. People groups that do not have your word in their language. And Father, we trust that you're equipping and empowering your people to do their work for your glory. Father, please help us to trust you. Please help us to live our lives knowing that our days are numbered. And seeking to live our lives before your face for your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen. May God bless you as you do your work today. May you do it to enjoy him. Knowing that you'll enjoy him forever. I'll see you next time. Bye.