Joshua 18:3 "And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?"
My grandfather gave me my second horse when I was seven years old. He was a fine animal but a feisty little fella! What a cowboy needed was a sure and snug rein to keep control of him. One summer day, I was riding O' Boy through the back lot off of the East Pasture. All of the sudden, the clip on the rein came loose, and my right rein was just dangling from the bit in his mouth! The balance of power had shifted! I did not have the reins; O' Boy now did.
Well, I decided my only course of action was to crawl off the back of the horse before he knew what was happening. Too late! He knew that I knew, and he bolted across the pasture. I was left holding on with only one rein as I was dragged behind him. At that moment, though I was given the horse by my grandfather, I did not possess the horse by any means! A slack rein means a loose horse.
That story came to mind this morning when I read Joshua 18. The Bible speaks of seven tribes "which had not yet received their inheritance." They had been given it, but they did not possess it. Joshua said, "How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?" The words slack, possess, and given are important words!
The lesson to learn is, you will never lack what you need when you are not slack with what you have. "Slack" is lack with weakness, laziness, or inaction attached to it. A slack rein equals a lost horse; a slack life is the result of not possessing what God has given.
There is a profound difference between slack and lack, "I won't" and "I can't", and "God gave" and "I possess." Lack speaks to what I need; slack speaks to what I do with what I have. "Can't" speaks to your ability; "won't" speaks to your will. "Give" speaks to what God does; "possess" speaks to what I do. You can be sure that God is not a slack God. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. . . ." Anything that we have of any worth is totally based on the work of Christ; but all that Christ has given awaits our obedience to God to possess it.
My great-grandfather, Earl Widner, was man who overcame much adversity to become quite successful in the business world. His motto was, "I am. I can. I will. I do." I am, as opposed to I am not. I can, as opposed to I won't. I will and I do, as opposed to I don't. In the end, you will never lack what you need in order to do what you need to do. You will never lack what you need when you are not slack, loose, or lazy with what you have.
No comments:
Post a Comment