One Game at a Time

GETTING STARTED

If you spend any time at all listening to sports news, you know there is a phrase uttered consistently by coaches and players alike during a team’s winning streak. When asked how they are feeling about their success, they almost always say, “We’re just taking things one game at a time.” And the person being interviewed follows that up by saying, “I know it’s cliché, but we’re not looking ahead.” From a sporting point of view, I am sure that is sound counsel. But in today’s passage, Joshua is going to give the tribes of Israel even better advice about how to handle victory.

  • Do you have a strategy for handling victory, or do you think it’s strange to think about surviving success?

READ THE WORD: JOSHUA 22:1-9 (ESV)

22:1 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, 8 he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. For what things were the tribes rewarded in verses 2 and 3?
  2. In verse 4, Joshua said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, “Therefore turn and go… to the land where your possession lies.” But before he releases them to enjoy the fruit of their success, he reminded them of something. What is it?
  3. What does it look like for a 21st century Christian “to walk in all [God’s] ways and to keep his commandments”?
  4. In your successes, do you cling to God and serve him with all your heart and soul? Why or why not?

RESPOND TO GOD

At long last, the tribes of Israel were finally entering into their prosperity. And yet, Joshua said to them, “Be very careful.” They had faced countless hardships during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and now that God was rewarding their obedience to him and their faithfulness to their brothers, Joshua cautioned them. Why? Because it is so hard to cling to God in prosperity. They had much livestock and silver and gold and bronze and iron and clothing, and Joshua knew it would be easy for them to begin to depend on themselves and on their circumstances instead of the God who had made it all possible. If you are living in the land of God’s promises, enjoy every minute of it. But as you do, be careful to observe the commands of God.

  • Thank God that he has blessed you by adopting you into his family and his eternal prosperity through Christ.
  • Whether you are struggling right now or enjoying earthly success, pray that you would be obedient to God and faithful to the family of Christ through it all.