Joshua 17

Joshua 17:14

Ephraim was complaining because they had not been given a very large portion of land. In fact, Ehpraim was given only about half of what Manasseh received. There were many people in the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua belonged to this tribe, and the Ephraimites probably felt that he would do something to help. Joshua, however, did nothing. The land they inherited was mountainous. The country is as rugged as any through which I have traveled. They were not satisfied.

Joshua 17:15

If you travel to this area today, you will find that the hills are as bare as they are in Southern California. What happened to all of the trees? The enemies that have come into this country down through the centuries have completely denuded the hills. There is a great campaign in Israel right now to plant trees in that region. When I visited there, I planted five trees; one for myself, one for my wife, one for my daughter, one for the church in which I served, and one for a Jewish friend. Trees will grow here because the land was once covered with them. By the way, in Christ’s day the Mount of Olives was also covered with trees. If there had been just a little clump of trees, as there is today, His enemies would not have had any trouble finding Christ and His followers in the garden. Judas was needed to lead them through the jungle of trees and point out exactly where our Lord was. Joshua’s reply to his own tribe was noble.

Joshua 17:17

Joshua says, “If you don’t like what you have, go up and possess the mountains. But remember there are giants in the land. You’ll have to work; you’ll have to fight. It’s going to cost you something.” It is time we stopped complaining and possessed more land. A great preacher from New York City once took a vacation in northern New York state. He went to church on Sunday in a small country town, and to his surprise the young pastor was preaching almost verbatim one of his published sermons. When the young man came out of the pulpit, and was greeting people at the door, the visiting pastor shook hands with him and asked, “Young man, I enjoyed your sermon this morning. How long did it take you to prepare it?” “Oh, it took me only about three hours,” came his reply. “That is strange,” said the famous preacher. “It took me about eight hours to prepare it.” It takes work to lay hold of spiritual possessions and blessings. Many years ago a student of mine entered the active ministry. He served in a church about three years and then came to see me. He was in distress because he said he was all preached out. I asked him how much time he spent studying and how long it took him to prepare a sermon. He told me that he did not spend much time studying and it took him about an hour to prepare a sermon. That was his problem. I spend anywhere from eight to twenty hours preparing a sermon. In order to lay hold of spiritual blessings, you are going to have to work hard. But remember that there is an enemy. There are giants in the land. Satan will trip you up if he can. Another classmate of mine once complained to a professor about a book he was required to read. He claimed it was as dry as dust. “Well,” said the professor, “why don’t you dampen it with a little sweat from your brow?” This is a great argument for hard work. Joshua says to his tribe, “Don’t come to me and complain. There is plenty of land for you. Go and get it.”