Joshua 13:1-33

Finishing well should be the goal of each and every one of us.  There are many who start well and even continue well for a period of time, but there are very few that sustain a consistent testimony right up through the end of their lives.  Joshua was such a man.  He was faithful to serve beside Moses as a young man.  He was one of only two faithful spies who trusted God to be able to deliver the Promised Land into the hands of Israel.  He remained faithful through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  Then he concluded his life as the godly leader who succeeded Moses.  He is now an old man and God is preparing him for the end of his life.  May God grant each of us the grace of being faithful old men and women.  God wants to communicate two basic messages at this important juncture.

THERE IS STILL MUCH WORK TO BE DONE: God used Joshua to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land and they conquered many nations and much of the land that had been promised to them.  However, the job was not completely done.  There were still other kings and other nations that needed to be expelled from the land and then the land divided between the people.  This was a very dangerous juncture in the history of the children of Israel.  They hand been wandering a warring for many long years and I am sure what they wanted more than anything was to just have peace and stability so they could set up their homes, plant their crops and raise their families.  It would be very easy for them to simply be satisfied with what they had.  We must be careful not to allow complacency to infect our hearts and lives to the point that we stop growing and moving forward in our spiritual walk or in the task of spreading the fame of Christ in the nations of the world.  Our rest will come in heaven.  We must never rest from our war on sin or the task of missions to which the Lord has called us.

THERE IS MUCH WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE: This was also an important time to review that which had been done and affirm the division of the land between the tribes as had been agreed.  Ruben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had already been given their land as an inheritance.  The rest of the tribes were about to receive the specifications of what God had given them.  This was a time to be thankful for what God had done and use that as motivation to continue pressing of with the work that the Lord had called them to still do.  It is easy for us to become discouraged when our present circumstances are not what we want them to be.  Satan wants us to lose hope and begin to doubt the goodness and the promises of God.  We must learn to cultivate gratitude and hope in our lives by reviewing the faithfulness of God throughout our entire lives and know that He never changes.  It is a healthy thing for us to look forward and backward as long as we are always faithful to look upward.