I Gave You a Land On Which You Did Not Toil

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant (Joshua 24:13 NIV).

God loves to remind His people certain truths. One of them is the fact that God had already prepared for you what you enjoy today. It is true that the Israelites had to fight battles to gain possession of the land; but God had other purposes in mind as far as war was concerned (Ref. Judges 3:2).

In Christian life, these battles can refer to intense spiritual warfare or even to normal struggles of human life. Once they are over you come to know that God enabled you to fight and gain what He had already kept for you.

In this process, God uses many forces at his command to serve your cause. He can use human agencies and even untamed forces of nature to prepare for you what you are going to enjoy. But the important point to remember is that even when God is assisting you in this fashion, the process of struggling cannot be avoided.

God has built it in to strengthen you to be prepared for what He has prepared for you. It is ready for you; but God is using the process of struggle to get you ready for it!

But when God keeps something ready for you; He demands of you certain things. You are to fear Him and serve Him with all faithfulness. This is your reasonable service to Him who had kept ready for you what you now enjoy.

Such a demand is not out of place because the normal human tendency is to forget the Lord once needs are met. So prepare to serve Him; and do it with an undivided heart. Yes, commit yourself to serve Him with wholehearted devotion today!

More Manna:

Blessed Are Those Who Have Learned

Bronze, as Precious as Gold

He Opened the Rock

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