Joshua 18:2-10 – Advancing with God

At this juncture of Israel’s conquest of Canaan, there were still seven tribes that had not received their allotment of the promised land. Joshua 18:3 suggests that Joshua expected them to take some initiative and actively possess the land. But they procrastinated and did not make any move to lay claim to what could be rightly theirs. Being a proactive leader, he chided these tribes for their passivity. He then initiated the formation of a survey team. Each of the seven tribes was to provide three men to form that team. So, in total this would be a 21-member team. They would then go through the unpossessed land, write a survey report and divide the prospective areas into seven portions. When that had been done, Joshua would then cast lots before the LORD and allocate the seven lots to each of the remaining seven tribes. They followed the instruction and did what was instructed. Joshua cast the lots before the LORD and allotted the portions to each of the seven remaining seven tribes.    

Journeying with God is such an awesome privilege. He has granted us a free moral will to make decisions and take actions to advance our life with Him. There is a necessity for us to pause every now and then, evaluate our progress, reset and align our compass, harness our strength and continue to make the advance. There is a possibility that our advance with God could be waylaid by our procrastination because we have become weary in the journey. Instead of recharging and be refreshed to advance we retreat into passivity and spiritual inactivity. Failure to cultivate proper spiritual measures can be detrimental to our advance. It can hamper the development of a vibrant faith and thus unable to keep our experience with the Lord current and fresh.

Our lack of advancement in our walk with God is often due to the lack of initiative on our part and not the reluctance of God. According to 2 Peter 1:4, God has “…granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature….” Our failure to advance is obviously our lack of action to lay claim of all that has been made available to us in Him. What could be some reasons some of us would stay passive? Firstly, one can be overtaken by complacency and become satisfied with what he or she already has. Secondly, it could also be due to laziness and not ready to make the time and effort to advance with God. Thirdly, it could be the habit of procrastination. And fourthly, it could be unbelief and nonchalance that keep us from advancing with God.

Beloved, let us see this passage as an invitation of God to advance further with Him. Regardless of which station we are at in our spiritual journey, there is still more of us that need to be harnessed for His glory. Success is a journey. It is not a point. Every victorious experience is a stepping stone to the next. The Apostle Paul urges us “to reach out to the things that are before us.” Remember we are in a transforming journey to become more Christ-like. Cultivating spiritual disciplines are imperative to our advancement in Him. To remain static will be to our own disadvantage and will bring dishonor to our Lord, who wants us to be with Him so that He can send us forth to advance His reign.