We looked at Joshua's portion of the land inheritance in the last study, but let's look at it again to make sure we didn't miss one important aspect:
When the people of Israel finished dividing up the land, they gave Joshua son of Nun a part of the land as his own. As the Lord had commanded, they gave him the city he asked for: Timnath Serah, in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the city and settled there (Joshua 19:49-50, GNT, emphasis added).
Notice that God gave Joshua the land, which seems to have been the site of a city that had been destroyed or was at least rundown and useless. That's why Joshua had to rebuild it. The point is that God didn't hand Joshua a ready-made city. Even after all his waiting and serving, he was given something that had potential and Joshua had to build it up before he and his family could live there.
In 2014, I started a publishing service. Even though I had already written books, it was now time to help others write and publish theirs. We started from scratch. We had to build it from the ground up and now we have published more than 200 books, including 90 of my own. God gave us the publishing land, so to speak, and we have had to clear it so we could "dwell" there. If God blesses it, future generations can also make their living there.
What about you? What has God given you with potential, but now you have to develop it? What do you have that may not look like much to someone else right now but represents a bright future for you? What are you overlooking because it doesn't look like much at the moment?
Your purpose and creativity have to be developed into what they can be. The good news is you don't know what your potential will look like until you start to develop it, and then it seems that the sky's the limit. I urge you to make the most of your opportunity by doing a little something every day to restore and develop the land God has given you. Remember, "Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense" (Proverbs 12:11).
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