Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Year 1, Day 200: Joshua 15

Judah Is First

Today we primarily read about Judah’s inheritance.  We read about Judah first because it is the preeminent tribe as the people come out of Egypt and move toward the Promised Land.  Of course, this comment is meant excluding the tribes in the Transjordan who had already received their allotment.

Othniel

Specifically within the stories of Judah’s inheritance we have two unique stories.  The first is the story of Caleb’s nephew, Othniel.  Othniel and Achsah are married largely because of Othniel’s warrior prowess.  This may seem like an insignificant event, but we will meet Othniel again when we read the book of Judges.  In fact, in the first chapter of Judges we’ll read the story of Othniel and Achsah again!  Othniel is the first judge raised up by God to protect the Promised Land. 

Stop for a moment and think about that for a second.  Certainly there can be no doubt that Caleb’s faithfulness towards God rubbed off on both his daughter, Achsah, and her new husband, Othniel.  I’m certainly not giving Caleb all the glory – for that belongs to God.  But neither should we ignore the fact that people of faith can have great impact on those who are growing and maturing in their own faith.  I don’t think that there is any accident whatsoever that the first protector of the Hebrew people after Joshua’s death will be a faithful family member of a faithful man.

Proximity to faithful people should not be overlooked.

Jerusalem – Spiritual Difficulties

The second story that we have in this chapter is the notation that the people of Judah are unable to deliver Jerusalem from the hands of the Jebusites.  In fact, the Jebusites will hang around through the period of the judges and they will be present even into the time of David.  We know that for a period of many decades the Jebusites will be able to hang onto control of Jerusalem.

The reason this is important is because we all know how important Jerusalem is to the Hebrew people.  It becomes David’s city.  It becomes the city of God.  Yet for quite some time the Hebrew people did not have access to that city.  It held out as a stronghold of Canaanite culture.  This reminds us that sometimes the most important spiritual results are just downright hard to accomplish.

We began Joshua with a conversation about how the story of Joshua relates to the spiritual walk as a Christian.  It’s time to return to that concept – specifically regarding Jerusalem.  Jerusalem eventually becomes the place where God dwells.  But it is won only after a period of great struggle.  The native inhabitants of Jerusalem are hard to drive out – and they aren’t driven out on the first attempt. 

So it is with our heart, our mind, and our soul.  Sometimes sin is easy to purge.  Sometimes sin is hard to discover and even more difficult to root out.  That doesn’t mean we don’t try.  It means we prepare ourselves for a struggle.

Heart, Mind, and Soul

Speaking in general with regard to all of scripture: the heart, mind, and soul are each referred to as being important places where faith rests within us.  Sometimes we have spiritual moments and feel like we are on the top of the mountain.  We think we have finally won our heart mind and soul for God.  Yet soon the world comes back in and brings us back to earth.  Our spirituality fades and returns to a less dominant place.  The struggle for our heart, mind, and soul constantly rages within us.

The spiritual battle for heart, mind, and, soul is a lifelong battle – much like the battle for Jerusalem against the Jebusites spanned generations.  Some spiritual victories are quick and easy (like Joshua at Jericho).  Some battles are difficult without the proper understanding (like the battle for Ai).  Other battles are just plain impossible without God’s help, and even then they are lifelong struggles (like Jerusalem).

That doesn’t mean we quit fighting.  It means we strap ourselves in for a good fight.  As I said earlier, it means we know there will be mountains and valleys (or highs and lows … blessings and bummers … whatever you want to call them) and we long to stay on the mountain for as long as possible while climbing out of the valley as quickly as possible.  But we still continue to fight.  The spiritual battle for our heart, mind, and soul – and the heart, mind, and soul of this world around us – is not going to be a quick battle.  But it is a battle worth fighting.


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