God’s Purpose in Our Days

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning We are at Joshua chapter 13 for only seven verses verses 1 through 7. God's gonna tell Joshua He's an old dude. He's getting old. He's got stuff to take care of. So let's go ahead and have some coffee We'll pray and we'll find out what God had to say to Joshua in his old age Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your Word. We thank you for what a blessing it is to get to read your Word. And Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would please teach us. Help us to understand it, Lord, and please, God, we need your help to actually apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, Joshua chapter 13, the first seven verses.
Now Joshua was old, just in case you didn't know what that was, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is a land that yet remains all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites from Sihur, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward. which is counted as Canaanite. The five lords of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Ashtarites, the Eshcolonites, the Gittites, and the Ekranites, also the Avites from the south, all the land of the Canaanites and Marah that belong to the Sidonians as far as Athic. to the border of the Amorites, the land of the Gebelites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise from Bal-Gad, below Mount Hermon, as far as the entrance of Hamath, all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon, as far as the brook Mesheroth. and all the Sidonians. Them I will drive out from before the children of Israel. Only divide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh."
Well, what is this about? So we got our three questions, right? A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So, what's this about? Joshua's old. He's not going to be able to lead them forever. At this point, I think it's like 84, 87. The guy's getting up there, right? He's not going to last forever.
And so God says there's still a lot of land to take down south and over by the coast, the land of the Philistines, right? Gazaites, right? They're still fighting in Israel today because Gaza was never taken by the Israelites. And so he's got to divide up the land, right? There's different areas that they haven't taken yet in the north and the south, on the other side of the river. And there's all sorts of land they still got to take care of. And so he says, you need to divide the land by lot, right? Each tribe needs to get a certain apportionment and they need to go and they need to take care of that their own area themselves.
So that's what this is getting at. And it's really setting up what's going to happen in the next couple of chapters, right? So the end of chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, almost there. Yeah, and 19 is all going to be about the different tribes and their inheritance.
And then we're going to get into the city's refuge and things like that. But this is really kind of like this transition chapter into, okay, how's the land actually going to be divided? How is the different tribes going to get their inheritance, but also how's the law of Moses going to be applied with these different cities that the Levites are supposed to have? And then, where's Joshua going to live?
Deborah asked the other day. We haven't really heard of Caleb for a while. We're going to find out where he gets his land. So there's things that are coming next. So this is this transition into this historical kind of land deed area of the book of Joshua. So, that's what this is about. What's the best verse to summarize this area? Well, I would say verse 7, because it really sets up the scene for it. But I'm going to also just point out, right, verse 13. Now, Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, You are old and advanced in years, right?
This is where I'm going to jump into calling, and I may be stretching here, and that's fine, right? you're not going to accomplish everything in your life. One of the things I've realized is there's more books that I want to read than I'll ever have time in my life to read. There's more projects I want to work on in my life than I'll ever have time to work on in my life. And the reality is is that the Lord knows it's not up to any single one of us but we all have limitations and God's going to accomplish his purposes and it's God who is bigger than any one of us singularly and so we need We need the full tribe of Israel, right? We need the full body of Christ to be working together.
And that is a good thing. Joshua didn't go in and conquer the land, be strong and courageous and do it all by yourself. No, the Lord was doing this. He was using Joshua in a really amazing way. But the people had some work to do. Everybody's got a part to play.
So what's your part to play? What's your place in the inheritance? Where is it that you are supposed to go? What are you supposed to do for the Lord? Each one of us only has a certain number of days. The Lord numbers our days. So are we using our days for His glory? Are we using our time for His kingdom? What are we desiring? What are we chasing after? What are you doing?
I don't know. I don't know if you're watching this and you're in your teens. Maybe you're in your 20s. Maybe you're middle-aged. Maybe you're like Joshua and the Lord's saying you're old. He knows it. What are you doing in these last days? Are you resting in Him? Are you passing on the faith to the next generation? Are you investing in the kingdom? Are you raising your family to the glory of God? Are you doing your schoolwork, your studies, so that way you might further his kingdom?
We each can only do so much. The reality is, it's appointed for every man to die, and then after this, the judgment. So, do we use our time well, redeeming it for the Lord? Now, I know I've got a real hard time with this, especially, like, when I'm not feeling well and stuff, and I'm not saying that a taskmaster, like, you know, God's got a task list for you to do, and you gotta make use of every single moment, and you never take a rest. No, I don't think that that's what— God's got a whole bunch of rest in the Bible. There's one in every seven days or jubilees or jubilee years. There's times of feasting. There's times of Just enjoying each other.
And so I think there's you need to bake in periods in your life for rest So, please don't hear this as like a productivity like get your stuff done for God. No, this is just saying look You can't actually get it all done But can you be faithful today Can you try to love him today Let's pray Father, we thank you that you gave us and Joshua a pretty amazing example of what you can do through a person. But Lord, this isn't just some type of moral lesson. Father, you had given Joshua his faith. He trusted in you, he loved you, and he saw your goodness. But Father, even after you had brought him into the promised land, there was still more work to be done that he couldn't get done. And so he trusted you to be faithful to your promises. And so Father, we see things that seem undone even now in our lives. People we love who aren't walking with you. Nations that still need evangelized. People, groups that do not have your word in their language.
And Father, we trust that you're equipping and empowering your people to do their work for your glory. Father, please help us to trust you. Please help us to live our lives knowing that our days are numbered and seeking to live our lives before your face for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. May God bless you as you do your work today. May you do it to enjoy Him, knowing that you'll enjoy Him forever. I'll see you next time.