Joshua 11:23: “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.”

April 1st, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In Joshua 11, we read that God gave Joshua complete victory and then the land rested from war. This chapter closes out the first section of the book of Joshua. The power of the Canaanite kings within the land had been crushed, and in that sense, Joshua had taken the whole land.  However not every small town and village was occupied. Total occupation would have to be accomplished by each individual tribe going in and possessing the land allotted to them, which would include completely driving out the remaining inhabitants. Each tribe was to do individually what it had done previously as a united people. And only if they succeeded in that, would they truly possess their total inheritance. Sadly, some of the tribes were not completely successful. Their failure was not due to a lack of God’s power, He had given them the land, but rather it was a failure on the tribe’s part. They did not obey and go in and possess all that God had given them.

Jesus has already defeated the enemy at the cross and conquered the land for us also. And like the tribes possessing the land, we are called to go into battle to gain what is ours. For the children of Israel, every piece of land had to be walked on, claimed, and lived in, just as every truth of God must be walked in, claimed by possession, and lived in daily for it to truly become ours. We can hear about, read about, and discuss the great truths of the believer’s life, but that does not necessarily mean we own those truths. We will only own them when we consistently live them. It is still easy to talk the talk, but successfully walking the walk remains a difficult. It is a daily war.

“LORD, we desire to be consistent in both what we say and do. Help us to make our actions match our words this day.”