Joshua 12 – Let’s take stalk of our life

Joshua 12 is an enumeration of the cities and tribes Israel had conquered. Verses 1-6 compute for us all those that were conquered under the leadership of Moses. And verses 7-24, those taken under the leadership of Joshua. The lands that were taken under Moses were mainly those west of Jordan i.e. before Israel crossed the Jordan. These lands were distributed to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh.

All the lands that were taken under Joshua’s leadership were those east of Jordan. They covered six geographical regions. Verse 8 tallies them for us. They were “…the hill country, the lowland, the Arabah, the slopes, in the wilderness, and the Negeb….” Verse 8 also lists for us the six captured tribes, namely, “…the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” In total, the number of kings captured was 31.  This list of the lands and people and kings conquered will help us see in subsequent passages that Israel left some places unconquered and they would come back to haunt them. It also shows that extra effort would be required later to retake those land.

Many of us must be left wondering and asking, what can a boring account where the author tracks the lands Israel had conquered, teach us about Christian living? Here is one lesson that we can learn, i.e. to take stalk of our life. We can do so by keeping a journal of our progress with God. It is needful to constantly track our progress so that we can pause and give thanks to the Lord. Have you ever consider journaling your journey with God?

Journaling can be a useful tool to help us be alert to the things that happen in our life. It helps us to take note of all the activities and be conscious of God’s unseen hand working and moving in and through our lives. It helps us to take time to reflect on how God’s presence, guidance, direction, have nurtured us in our life’s daily activities. It will help us to recall God’s faithfulness in our journey so that we can cultivate a life of thanks-living. We need to take stalk of life. The value we attach to a task always determine the price we are willing to pay for it. Whatever is worth possessing is worth the time and effort it will take to possess it. Joshua 12 underscores the value of journaling our life. All of us can learn from our past so that we can live effectively in the future. We must not be forgetful recipients of God’s wondrous grace in our life!