Joshua 21:43-44

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land... and the Lord gave them rest." Jos 21:43-44

The Lord is always giving. He lives to give. "God so loved the world, that he gave..." Trace the word "give" in connection with God throughout the whole of the Bible, and it will be found that the extent of his gifts is simply infinite. The point to be observed here is in the contrast between the one gift and the other. How much is implied in the word, "gave unto Israel all the land," when it is contrasted with the expression, "the Lord gave them rest!" Was there no rest in obtaining the land? No, not so much as one day. Although the land was given it must be fought for. This is the great law concerning all the gifts of Heaven; they are gifts only in a certain sense or in a limited degree, or are meant as provocatives to human energy or prizes for human patience. The word "give" must thus be enlarged so as to represent its whole meaning: the Lord gives life, but man must train the life that is given: the Lord gives opportunity, but man must embrace the opportunity and fill it with all its significance: the Lord gives society, but society must enter upon a process of self-development and self-protection. The thing that is given may be but the first seed, the germ, the protoplasm: all the rest may come of time, the succession of events, and the adaptations of educative influences and ministries. In a larger sense the Lord gives rest. He never gives rest until he has prepared men for it. When men are not prepared for rest, they do not understand it as a blessing. The six days' labour make the Sabbath what it is; but for the six days' labour the Sabbath would be a mere institution, a religious ordinance, an arbitrary distribution of time; but after the six days' toil it comes as a benediction the very beginning and pledge of Heaven. The true rest is the rest of the soul. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God;" "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord... that they may rest;" "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."