Have you ever met someone who just can’t seem to get it together? No matter how much you give them, how much you help them, how much you stand in the gap for them it just never seems to be enough? Then there are other people who will take just a little something, pat it together, roll it around, throw some kind of grease on it, toss it up in the air and before you know it, it’s a masterpiece!
Others knew how to take scraps from the field and scraps from the barn yard and make a delectable meal. They took the pig’s intestines and made chitterlings. They took chicken feet and wings and fried them. They took the tail of the ox and combined it with some potatoes onions and seasonings along with some corn meal for cornbread and made a meat dish so tender, so delicious, so flavorful you might want to start shouting! They knew how to take scraps, leftovers, what other folks thru away and prepare a meal fit for a king! Despite all of the battles they fought, all of the obstacles they had to overcome, comparatively speaking, they have out distanced some in today's times who have more than they could have ever imagined, yet still can’t make it work.
This was the problem of the tribe in our text for today. Although Joseph was one of Jacob’s 12 sons, he did not have a tribe named after him. Joseph, as the oldest son of Jacob’s wife Rachel received a double portion of the inheritance. Joseph’s double portion was divided between his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Although these were actually Jacob’s grandsons, Jacob counted them as his sons. In other words, Manasseh and Ephraim had GREAT favor. These two sons were given the largest territory and the greatest influence in the northern half of Israel. Yet with all of that, they still complained that they did not have enough.
These men were not like Caleb, who went to Joshua and said in so many words, “Give me this mountain that the Lord said was mine. I know that there are giants in the land but with the help of the Lord, I will drive them out!” Caleb knew that there were yet battles to fight and giants to slay in the promised land, but he stood up on his most holy faith and said, “give it to me anyway and with God’s help, I will drive them out!”
Neither were they like the daughters of Zelophehad who had to climb the steep mountain of thousands of years of discrimination and sexism against women, stood together and demanded their inheritance…standing on the promise of God wherein the Lord directed Moses to change the unjust law that denied daughters an inheritance if their fathers had no sons. Both Caleb and these daughters had to fight for what was rightfully theirs, but they fought anyway and came out victorious.
But look at these brothers – the tribe of Manasseh. Not only were they given land – they were given the BEST land and a double portion. Yet they went complaining to Joshua that they still did not have enough. The text starts out with the following…
12 Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. 13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.
The Manassites were not able to take advantage of what was theirs because enemies were determined to live on their territory AND they did not drive them out. At some point they got some strength and got the enemy under control, (or so they thought) but they did not completely drive the enemy out. They should have learned a lesson from looking at Caleb. When he got his land, he didn’t fool around with the enemy. He didn’t decide to keep them around and use them when he wanted. He drove them out!
If you want complete victory over the enemy in your life, you can’t play around with the enemy. Sin is like a cancer. If you don’t cut it out eventually it will take you over. You can’t keep a little bit hidden so that you can take it out and play with it every now and then, you’ve got to DRIVE IT OUT! That addiction, that secret sin, that lustful behavior, that incessant greed, that lying tongue, that unholy behavior that you think nobody knows about…playing footsy with the devil. You can’t control evil! It will not leave easily.
The enemy wants to set up deep root systems in your heart, in your mind, in your family, in your situation and circumstances, wrapping its roots around you so that you cannot move, so that you cannot grow, so that you cannot thrive, so that you cannot breath. The enemy will not leave easily, but through the power of prayer, faith, fasting and godly accountability you can and you must drive the enemy out if you want to enter your promised land! The Manassites had a double portion – twice as much as what every other tribe had, yet they were living in a small corner of what belonged to them.
They complained to Joshua and said,
14 … “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.”
Think about that for just a moment. They had TWICE AS MUCH as others yet they were not able to take advantage of what was theirs. Can you imagine what Joshua must have been thinking? I imagine that Joshua in that moment began to think about all that he had been thru to get where he was. I imagine he thought about when he and Caleb were almost stoned to death as they came back with a good report regarding the promised land and the other 8 spies were too afraid to move forward. I imagine that he thought about how he led the Israelites to march around Jericho for seven days and at God’s command blew their trumpets and the walls came tumbling down…I imagine that he thought about all that he had been through, all the enemies he had defeated and all of the lands with God’s help he had conquered, as he looked upon folks who had everything they needed to thrive…yet remained stuck in a corner, begging for more.
Listen to Joshua’s response…
15 “If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”…
17 But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment 18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”
The reason why they thought that they did not have enough was because too much was in the way. They had land as far as the eyes could see, but they needed to go and chop down the trees and clear the land. And if that still was not enough, they needed to chase out the enemies that were occupying their territory. Sometimes we already have what we need but we can’t see all that we have because too much is in the way…to much mess, too much dysfunction, too much drama, too much anger, too much unforgiveness, too much hatred, too much unholy behavior TOO MUCH IS IN THE WAY!!!
This is between you and God. Do you know what God has already given you? God has given each and everyone of us something. No matter what your situation or circumstance, the Lord can show what you need to do, how you need to do, where you need to go, what you need to seek, what you need to release, what you need to take hold of. Are you busy asking the Lord for more when you have not done what is possible with what you already have? What has taken root all around you that you need to uproot, dig up, chop down and clear away?
Stop comparing yourself to other people. God has given you blessings that you have not yet tapped into because too much is in the way. Asking God for peace, but continuing to put yourselves in dysfunctional relationships and situations. Asking God for health, but continuing to indulge in unhealthy practices…asking God for wisdom, but refusing to study God’s Word, listen to wise counsel or obey when God speaks…Asking God for deliverance from evil but at every turn opening the door for evil to persist in your life - what do you need to clear away?
I wish that I could tell you that Manasseh and Ephraim did as Joshua told them – to remove that which was in the way and to drive out the enemy. But sadly, they did not. Judges 1:27 and following explains that because they did not move when God said move, because they chose to dance with sin for a season, because they allowed fear to paralyze them, they never were able to take advantage of all that God had intended for them to have.
God has territory for you that is much larger than where you currently abide. Stop allowing the enemy to paint you into a corner when the Lord has given you an open field. There is work for you to do. It will not be easy. The enemy will not just walk away without a fight – but with the help of the Lord you can and you must DRIVE THE ENEMY OUT!
Post a comment or send me an email at Revcsmith1@gmail.com
Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org
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