The members of the tribe of Joseph decided that simply because they were so many and had Joseph as an ancestor they were entitled to a larger portion of the promised land, and it should be given without any effort on their part. They seemed to lack creativity, and courage to take what they had and make something of it. There discontent with life could have been turned in a more positive direction. Like them, we have an inheritance and can also benefit from Joshua’s suggestions that he made to the tribe. Let us explore how to counteract any discontent that we may have in our lives.
We must remember that we have a God to serve. What we do cannot and should not be for our own selves alone. He is our master and our King. Like the tribe of Joseph, we can easily look around to see who is prospering more than ourselves. We can even become jealous of other people. The problem is that we can be so absorbed with the material things of this world that we forget whom we serve. Likewise, we can be so absorbed with troubles or illnesses or discouragements. It behooves us as we serve God that we must remember that for blessings we must meet the conditions for the blessing. The tribe of Joseph assumed that automatically they should be granted some priority or preferential treatment. It didn’t work for them, and it doesn’t work for us in our relationship with God. As we do devoutly serve God, it comes best when we demonstrate his greatness by how we live.
To counteract our own discontent, as Christians it is wise for us to remember that we are not just meandering through this world. We have a job to do for God. Joshua reminded those who were discontented that they should take the mountain he was offering them and possesses it with hard work and determination. By seeing ourselves as workers for God, we have a better identity in his behalf that places us in a unique position in life. Our position before others is in itself a testimony as we seek to do the work of God. They were already given the mountain. We already have talents and blessings from God. It is not reasonable for us to expect God to give us more if we have not already used what he offers us to possess.
The tribe of Joseph wanted to flaunt their reputation as cited in the Scripture. They wanted to brag about their history and who they were in the greater scheme of things. The truth is that they had a reputation to uphold but it was not the kind that they wanted to voice. The reputation had to be earned by possessing the land and doing the work of God’s people. It does not make any sense for us to expect God to arbitrarily bless us when we have not taken the step to be in a position to receive a blessing. We each have our own mountains to claim. We each have her own enemies to defeat. We each have our own trees to fell. To be a Christian means to have calluses on our spiritual hands. To be a believer in Christ is more than mental accusations to our own thoughts. Believing in Christ means automatically they we are to go to our higher mountain of position, of responsibility, of purpose. Whenever the devil tries to tempt us with discouragement, we must remind ourselves of his children that we are. As children of the Almighty, we have a function to fulfill, a duty that only we can complete.
Christian Writer 