Read Joshua 18:1-7.
Seven years of fighting for the possession of Canaan had
passed by. All this will be a lost cause
and wasted effort unless the children of Israel learn to live in the land. So also the Christian must learn to daily
conquer the enemy and live victoriously.
Shiloh, the place of rest.
Shiloh was chosen by God for the temporary dwelling place
of the tabernacle. It was geographically
the center of the land.
w All
that is in the tabernacle is typical of Christ.
So He should be at the center of our lives.
w Setting
up the tabernacle was an important factor in learning to live in the land. If the Christian is to learn to live in the
place of blessing he must learn to meet with God.
w It
was a place of prayer and worship.
w It
brought all the Israelites together. The closer we come to Christ the closer we
come to one another.
Slackness, the corruption of rest.
Here we have one of the perils of living in the land of
full blessing. Much of the land was
never possessed, and the most prevalent cause was slackness. We know this is a sin the Church is guilty of
today because Paul said, It is high time
to awaken out of our sleep.
Consider these causes of slackness...
1. Satisfaction
with the present. Israel rested in past
achievements.
2. Indolence. Just plain laziness. Being indisposed to labor or work. "The life of least resistance." They were "at ease in Zion."
3. Habits
of delay, such as procrastination. The
Devil's lie is that there is plenty of time.
NOW is the day of salvation.
4. Unbelief. Doubting what God is able to do. "They entered not in because of
unbelief."
5. Forgetfulness
of God's command, which was to exterminate the inhabitants and take the land.
The Christian life is always described in terms of
progress: warfare, a race, a pilgrimage, building a building, etc.
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