Joshua 18:3 – “Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?”
The children of Israel had conquered the land. In fact, verse 1 of this chapter says, “…the land was subdued before them.” Then why do we have Joshua’s question in our text? Because of the previous verse, verse 2: “But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance.” Several tribes had settled in the land they were promised. But the majority of the nation had not. Verse 3 gives us one word that tells us why…NEGLECT. The Hebrew word for neglect has many meanings but there are four I will highlight. They are slacken, fail, idle and slothful. They just didn’t get around to it. Some of them even complained that they had not inherited what God had promised them!
But when I read this passage it reminds me of far too many Christians today. Jesus conquered, subdued and defeated the enemy and gave to us an amazing inheritance spoken of in the New Testament. Yet many have yet to obtain it. Oh, they may walk in portions of it from time to time but are yet to enjoy the fulness of it.
If you don’t know what your inheritance is as a child of God let me help you. Read Ephesians chapter 1. The word inheritance is mentioned 3 times. Within the 23 verses of this chapter you will see what you’ve been given. It is nothing short of marvelous. I hope it will inspire you to read more of the New Testament. After all, Jesus died so you could have an inheritance. It think it’s rather important to know what you’ve been missing. It’s time to possess it!