Ignoring God's Best

Joshua 22:10-29

It all looked so good in the beginning. 2 ½ tribes of Israel thought it would just work out fine for them to have land on the east of the Jordan. But this decision caused nothing but problems and misunderstandings and in the end destruction. It can teach us lessons of what happens when we do not choose God's best.\r
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It all started back in Numbers 32. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, were shepherds. They saw that the land east of the Jordan was:\r
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(Numbers 32:4-5) "is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." 5 And they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan."\r
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They saw with their eyes instead of trusting in their hearts.\r
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The reaction was interesting by Moses and is very much reminiscent of the reaction by Israel in Joshua 22.\r
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Moses claimed they were just being lazy, but the real crux of the matter was that they were abandoning God like the spies incited in the Children of Israel when the spies went into the land 40 years earlier:\r
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(Num 32:14-15) And behold, you have risen in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! 15 For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people."\r
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Moses may have correctly understood that their politeness actually covered a spirit of rebellion - like saying "we've got ours, now good luck with yours". It's also interesting that Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, was a rebellious son who violated Jacob's concubine Bilhah (Genesis 35). That rebellion cost him the position of first born (given to Joseph - which became Ephraim and Manasseh). \r
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Anyway, when Moses called them on it, that's when they made the promise to just make sheep pens and walled cities but would come across and fight with Israel.\r
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(an odd note: the ½ tribe of Manasseh didn't come into this until verse 33 of Numbers 32). \r
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Later, in Joshua 22, the situation is ignited when the 2 ½ tribes build an altar "of imposing size" (called "Ed" by the way) on Israel's side of the Jordan. The people think that these tribes are perhaps now doing what they really wanted to do in the first place, and that was to set up a separate religion apart from Yahweh and separate themselves from Israel like Moses thought they were doing in Numbers 32.\r
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They act all nicey nicey - but in the end their actions speak louder than words.\r
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In 1 Chronicles 25:5 (broke faith with God) and 2 Kings 15:29 (carried away to Assyria) we see that they quickly did just what Moses and later the leaders of Israel thought they would do, and that's abandon Yahweh to serve foreign gods.\r
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It could be that the descendents of these people are the same ones that we find in Mark 5:1-17 - the people who were considered gentiles, raised pigs and wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Hmmm.\r
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So we see here lessons on what happens when we try to have our cake and eat it too, so to speak - when we try to get all we can out of the world and still hold on to God. Sidlow Baxter says the desire of these tribes is like the "worldly Christians" of today. \r
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You cannot have two world views or you end up with double vision or cross-eyed. You cannot serve two masters, Jesus said (Matthew 6:24): \r
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Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. ESV\r
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And its not just money. \r
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1 Corinthians 6:12 "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be mastered by anything. NIV\r
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Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ESV\r
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These tribes are an example for us who cannot decide who we really serve. It is a process that leads downward, but there is also another process that leads us back to God.\r
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Self Serving\r
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This is when the focus is on me first - my needs, my wants, my desires, my fulfillment, my pleasure, my goals, my thoughts, me me me. It is easy and natural for us to fall into this mode, and we do it continually, like a car with its alignment slightly off. If we take our hands off the steering wheel it will drift off the center of the road. The "self" - the old nature - is constantly pulling us away from putting God first in our lives. \r
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How did Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh do this? They looked at what was good for them, rather than what God has supplied for them. They used their eyes instead of their faith to choose their path. It led them instead of into the Promised Land, into the worldly plain. When we choose to make decisions on what tickles our pleasure, or just ignore that primary place God should hold, we start down that path.\r
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Self Deluding\r
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The next step along it is self-delusion. These tribes convinced themselves that they were okay in doing this. I think they truly believed that there was no problem not going into the Promised Land. Where did they get this idea, from God? It is actually pretty easy for the flesh to convince our minds that behaviors or attitudes that are not like the Lord are okay.\r
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"It's just a little lie" "It's not a big sin" "God will get the glory in the end"\r
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Self Justifying\r
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Self delusion leads to self justification. The 2 ½ tribes did this by going way overboard in their explanation both to Moses and later to the leaders of Israel that they were not building another altar, they were not abandoning the Lord, when in fact that's exactly what happened.\r
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If you find yourself having to go to great lengths in order to justify your behavior and even twist the Word of God then you might be self-justifying. "God didn't really say â?¦" \r
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Self Sufficient\r
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Next comes a removing of yourself from the source. The tribes moved back across the Jordan and though they claimed allegiance to Yahweh they soon fell away. Distance from God does not make the heart grow fonder it makes the heart grow fainter. You find yourself not wanting to go to church, or hang out with Christians, or speak to God or hear from Him in His Word. You begin to build a support system based on others who have deluded and justified themselves into thinking that worldly attitudes and behaviors are actually okay and won't hurt anything. \r
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It's like the Proverb says:\r
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Proverbs 6:27-28 7 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? 28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? ESV\r
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Self Destroying\r
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The final step is self destruction. Your actions that are against the Spirit will hurt you. It will make you weak and unhappy and ineffective for the Lord. You will not be a witness for God but a witness against Him. People will look at you and wonder, could this person belong to Jesus Christ? They certainly don't act like it. \r
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For these tribes they lived in the land but bore no resemblance at all to the Jews they claimed to belong to. \r
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Rom 8:6-8 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV\r
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So what do we do? Fortunately, there are things you can do all along this path away from God, and they are the opposite of the steps I outlined above:\r
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God Serving\r
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Simply put, decide that God is more important in your life than you are. His desires are primary, his character better, his ways better. \r
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1 Corinthians 6:19-20 You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ESV\r
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God Revealing\r
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Even as we delude ourselves, we can ask God to reveal to us what ways in us are leading us away from Him. (Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me O God â?¦")\r
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Godly Sorrow & Repentance\r
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This is the next step, as God reveals in us what is not of Him, then we change our minds about our own sin and turn to Him. \r
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2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. NIV\r
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God Depending\r
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So then we see that we are nothing and we must depend on God for our character, our aspirations, our rescue, our hopes and dreams. This isn't a bad thing at all. It doesn't mean we cease to exist. It doesn't mean we don't matter. In fact, God knows our needs and what will be best for us much better than we do. Learning to lean on God is one of the hardest things to do but one of the most valuable ever.\r
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Godly Cleansing\r
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Instead of destruction, as God kills the flesh he builds the spirit by cleansing us and bringing us back into fellowship with Him and with other believers. I've spoken to so many people who have run as hard as they can away from God and finally realize they are running on a treadmill, not getting anywhere but tired. They turn around and God is right there, ready to forgive, ready to cleanse, ready to embrace, and the relief and joy they experience is wonderful!\r
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This is a struggle each of us goes through all the time - and its neat of the Lord to correct us as we naturally drift off course. So if you find yourself from time to time being tempted by the sparkle of the world, realize that it is the sparkle of Cubic Zirconium, not a real diamond. The world likes to masquerade and fool us into thinking that we don't really need God. May we realize often and early that we need Him for every breath and every decision. \r