The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?” So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.” Joshua 17:14–15 NKJV
The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim did not dispossess all the Canaanites from the territory of their inheritance. But they told Joshua that they were a great people and complained that the territory allotted them was too small. Do we not often fall into the same trap? Our God and Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. We often lay hold of very little of the rich blessings God has given us. Yet often we complain that we are not receiving enough to meet our needs. Meetings are boring, much too dry, not relevant to my needs, we say, among other complaints. I don’t get anything out of them! And we go elsewhere in search of greener pastures!
Joshua told his fellow tribesmen to go into the woods and cut down the trees, clearing the land for themselves. They replied that this would still not be enough for them, and complained that the Canaanites had iron chariots, the equivalent of tanks today. God does not intend that we be spoon-fed Christians. Israel was to fight the enemy and depend on God’s help. David later wrote, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright” (Ps. 20:7–8).
The enemy has many weights and sins to hinder our progress and rob us of blessings God wants to give us (Heb. 12:1). May we refuse them and lay hold of eternal life to which we are called (1 Tim. 6:12)!