Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“When the children of Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out. The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me just one lot and one part for an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, because Yahweh has blessed us so far?” Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” The children of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, that is, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people, and have great power. You shall not have one lot only; but the hill country shall be yours. Although it is a forest, you shall cut it down, and it’s farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.””
(Joshua 17:13-18)

“Don’t answer a fool according to his folly,
    lest you also be like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
    lest he be wise in his own eyes.”
(Proverbs 26:4-5)

The Israelites weren’t told to try and get the people out of the Land, they were told to GET the people out of the Land AND that the Lord would go before them. That means that there was no reason to keep ANY of the people in the Land EVER. All they needed to do was to follow the Lord and do what He said, when He said it. To consult Him and then obey. So simple. But like us all, they were imperfectly obedient. Simple does not mean easy. It can mean effort. It can mean going out of your comfort zone. It can mean trusting God in spite of what you are seeing before you. The children of Joseph didn’t consult the Lord. They whined to Joshua. And Joshua had to tell them hard truths. In spite of what they saw. In spite of what they thought. They HAD to trust in the Lord and DO THE THING. No one would hand it to them. They had to engage the promise and do the thing themselves BUT do it by putting God first. If they did, the land would be cleared.

We need to discern when it is appropriate to answer someone who is being foolish or holding to a foolish ideal. When a foolish person gives their view and it is clearly wrong, we need to correct them so that they don’t stay imagining that their view is correct. That can lead to serious problems for them. We need the wisdom to know when to speak and what to speak. The children of Joseph were being foolish, so Joshua corrected them. He restated the promises of God and the general actions they would need to take in order to claim them. He didn’t agree with them. He didn’t pat their heads. He empathized with them, but he didn’t coddle them. He told them the simple truth and didn’t dress it up. He made it clear that they needed to face the truth and embrace it.

Summary

We live in a world of darkness and ignorance. Opinions are given like facts. Feelings are looked on as divine utterances. And anyone not agreeing is seen as the enemy. It can be hard to function in that. We NEED wisdom. And Holy Spirit GIVES wisdom. If we rely on Him and what He shows us in the Word, we’ll know WHAT to say, WHEN to say it, HOW to say it, and when to STOP saying it. People may still get offended – that is their CHOICE. But we will know that we have spoken the truth in love and given them what they need to hear – if we have been obedient to the Lord. It doesn’t matter what we WANT to say, we must ONLY say what HE says to say and say it EXACTLY as He told us to say it. God knows what people need to hear. God knows what will impact them and not end up in useless arguing. God sees ALL of our hearts and He loves to build COMMUNICATION between us and Himself. Bring Jesus in on every conversation, listen to Holy Spirit, humble yourself before God, and you’ll be speaking His Word His way. There is nothing more healing than that.