Passage Read: Joshua 18-21
Meditation Verse: 18:10
Thought
Two and a half tribes claimed their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. And two and a half tribes basically claimed their inheritance on the west side of the Jordan. But these seven tribes sat around waiting for someone to tell them what to do. They were fine with the land bring carved up and distributed by lot. They had no preference, no requests. Are they an example of patience or lack of ambition? Whatever land they were given by lot would be theirs for good, and they would have to be content with that.
Application
There's a sense where no matter what was chosen by themselves or chosen for them, the latter generations would be stuck with whatever someone else chose for them. The children didn't have a say in what land they would inherit, whether their father's chose it themselves or received it by lot. So if the fathers chose for themselves or received it by lot, it only mattered to that first generation. All need a degree of contentment, because there are things being chosen for us that we have no say in. Back then, that could even include vocation and spouse! Those were lifelong, permanent choices that you might not have any say in! How do you respond to that? With bitterness, hating every day of the rest of your life? Or with acceptance and finding or making the best of every day that follows? Today, I may seem to have a say in every aspect of my life, but actually there are so many things, especially in my growing up years, that I have no choice over. There are circumstances even today that I have no control over. I may make decision, I may step up and select a direction or property or all kinds of other things, but I have no control over what happens around me or what challenges are revealed within the things I choose. So whether I'm decisive or let others decide for me, I need to be flexible and content and determined to make the best of whatever comes my way, or else I'll find myself always complaining and bitter, discontent and angry.