Joshua 17:14-18 - Beware of Pride

I want to begin my chat today by again asking for special prayer for Luke, our little grandson. We received a call late last night from Kimberly on her way to the Emergency Department at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Luke was screaming in the background with pain. It appears that he is experiencing another shunt failure on relieving the pressure on his brain, or there is an infection. Our last text from Kimberly was around 2:30am this morning, and Luke was still in great pain, and they were still running tests and consulting with the neurosurgeon. But it looks like possibly another surgery will be taking place later today. We sure appreciate all your prayers for this courageous little fella already, but trust you will continue to pray special for him today! Thank you so very much!   In Joshua chapters 13 through 17, Joshua and the elders of Israel are distributing the tribes their inheritance in the Promise Land from Gilgal. We have been making spiritual applications from these chapters for our spiritual journey and what is involved in claiming our inheritance in Christ as believers. We have looked at five of these so far: We don’t want to become borderline believers (Joshua 13). In, like Joshua and Caleb, we should be encouraged in our pilgrim journey because no matter how long we must wait our inheritance is still available (Joshua 14:6-14). We are never too old to fulfill God will and purpose for our lives (Joshua 14:6-14). We have a responsibility to provide and pass on our inheritance and our faith to the next generation (Joshua 15:13-19). And, God wants to give all His people their inheritance (Joshua 17:3-6).   Today we will look at our sixth and very important lesson from Joshua 17:14-18. It's not our boasting but our believing that gives us the victory and gains us new territory. Joshua had a problem with the children of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), who were complaining because the Lord didn't give them enough room! (Joshua 17:14-18) You can detect their pride as they told Joshua what a "great people" they were. After all, didn't Jacob personally adopt and especially bless them? And hadn't they multiplied in a great way? And wasn't even Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim? (Numbers 13:8) They felt like they were a special people who deserved special treatment.   But if you compare the statistics given in Numbers 1:32-35 and 26:34 and 37, you learn that the descendants of Joseph had increased from 72,700 to 85,200, although Ephraim had 8,000 fewer people. But six other tribes had increased their number since the last census. It is apparent that the children of Joseph weren't the only ones who were fruitful.   Joshua responded by telling his brethren that, if they were such a great people, now was their opportunity to prove it! Let them do what Caleb did and defeat the giants and claim the mountains! It's worth noting that the people of Ephraim and Manasseh seemed to be given to criticism and pride. They not only created problems for Joshua but also for Gideon (Judg. 8:1-3), Jephthah (12:1-7), and even David (2 Sam. 20:1-5).   We are warned in James 3:16, "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there". Sometimes those who talk the most accomplish the least. It appears that no matter where we are that are always those who are motivated by pride to complain and criticize. We must be careful by God’s grace not to join them!   Today, we need to be aware of pride in our own lives!   God bless!