“But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” (Joshua 17:18)
The tribe of Manasseh came to Joshua asking for more land because part of the land God gave to them was covered in trees and the other part was inhabited by Canaanites. They couldn’t get victory because of the trees and the Canaanites.
So, God answered their request by telling them to do two things which would give them all the land they would need. It is the same two things we are to do if we are going to have complete victory in our Christian life.
FIRST—They Were To Remove Things That Were CLUTTERING the Land.
God said to them, “the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down:” The first thing He told them to do was to clear the forest; that is, chop down the trees. Now, there’s nothing wrong with trees—that is, unless you want to build a house, or grow something else there.
Trees are beautiful things; trees are harmless things; and, there is shade in the trees. But, if the trees are cluttering the land, then you have no right to say, “There’s not enough room.” There’s plenty of room, if you cut down the trees. The first thing Joshua is saying to these people who wanted more land was, “Get the things that clutter your life out of your life.”
Have you done that? I’m not talking about just the sinful things. I’m talking about the trees; things that may not be sinful, but they just clutter your life.
Some say, “I just don’t have enough time for church.” You would if you would cut down some trees in your life. God gives everybody 24 hours a day and you have enough time in every day to do everything God wants you to do.
But, do you know the reason that some of us are not doing the things that God wants us to do? We have failed to clear out the things that clutter our lives. You see, it’s not that we need more time; we just need to chop down some trees that are in the way.
Tomorrow, we will look at the second thing God told Manasseh to do in order to have complete victory in the land.
This morning, ask God to identify the things that may be cluttering your life. It could be a friendship; it could be a love of more money. Whatever it is, ask God to identify it and then remove it so that you can live in victory.