Still Work to be Done
Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them. Joshua 18:1
Do you set goals for yourself? Do you have plans and projects you want to do? Do you have a bucket list? Do you make a to-do list for yourself every day, every week, every year?
I like lists. I find myself better organized to get more accomplished if I have spent some time thinking about what I want to get done. So I have a daily/weekly list. But accompanying that short-term framework, I also have longer range goals. Right now, my overarching goal is to accomplish everything that needs to be done by Passover: cleaning the whole house, working on the garden as the weather permits, finishing up formal homeschooling for the year, and preparing my heart and mind for the upcoming Holy Days. There are other goals and projects mixed in which have no definite end: I’m working on crocheting a blanket. I want to build a corner shelf in my kitchen. I’m reading the Bible each day.
The reality is: there’s a lot to be done. Inherent in the process of setting goals is using your time wisely - not only in being able to accomplish more, but also in accomplishing what is most important. When you set goals, you tend to put some thought into what is most important that has to be done first. That usually goes at the top of the list. Think about it on a tiny scale: grocery shopping. When I used to shop at the same store all the time, I got so I knew exactly where everything was. So when I’d make out my grocery list, I’d start by listing everything I knew I needed. Then I’d go back and arrange that list by where I’d find it in the store. That eliminates getting to the end of the store with a full cart and realizing you walked right by something that’s clear on the other side of the store .
Or think about running errands. I always plan my errands in sequence. If I have to go to the post office, the bank, the library, the grocery store, and the craft store, I plan them in the most efficient route. It would be the height of ridiculousness to drive right by one of the stops and end up having to drive miles out of my way to get back to it. Gas is expensive. But, really, time is much more valuable!
So I make lists. I work towards goals. But what happens when I have completed everything on my list? I throw the list away. What happens when I reach a goal? I turn my attention to what needs to be done next. There’s always something to do. There’s still work to be done.
I wonder if that’s how the Israelites felt when they finally took the land. It took seven years, from the time of the crossing of the Jordan, to reach the point where Joshua 18:1 records, “The land lay subdued before them.” This goal had been a long time coming! God had promised this land to Abraham some 500 years before! The goal of reaching the Promised Land had been before the people’s eyes since they came out of Egypt. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness had ensued. Seven years of conquering the land was behind them. Finally, they were there. Now what?
They started right. Joshua 18:1 says, “Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.” They set up the tent of meeting, the place where they would worship God, where they could go to inquire of God. The implication is that, even though they’d reached their goal of taking the land, they knew they still needed God. They knew that worshiping God was still on their to-do list.
But we know how the story unfolded. Israel entered the period of the judges. They would start out serving God. Things would be going well. Then they’d start to serve the false gods around them. God would give them into the hands of their enemies who would make their lives miserable. So the Israelites would call out to God to save them. He’d send a judge to save them. Then, as long as that judge lived, the land would have rest and the people would serve God. As soon as that judge died, the cycle would start again: apostasy, oppression, repentance, salvation - over and over again.
So, does this history have any relevance to our lives today? Human nature is still the same. We are still tempted and drawn away from God and His ways by the things around us. We still have the tendency to seek God while there’s a goal to be met, when we know we need Him to help us get through whatever battle we’re presently fighting. But what do we do when we finally have finished the battle and are at rest? What do I do when I finish reading through the Bible? Do I set the Bible on the shelf and say, “O.K. That’s done. What book shall I read next?” What do I do when I’ve finally done everything that has to be done before Passover? Do I pat myself on the back and just let the house get dirty again, and, more importantly, stop evaluating my actions against the plumb line of God’s Word? What do we do when we’ve reached a major goal?
Too many people are deceived into thinking their major, long-term goals are their overarching reason d’être, their reason for existing. Some young people see finishing school as their overarching goal. Finishing school becomes their reason d’être. Then, when they’ve finished school, they don’t know what to do with themselves. Some mothers see their reason d’être as raising their children. So when the children are grown and out of the house, the mothers feel like they have no purpose in life. And the list goes on. Too many people feel like rudderless ships. They don’t know where they’re going in life because they don’t have that overarching goal, that purpose, that reason d’être. So they try to find it in temporal pleasures: doing what feels good at the moment, drugs, alcohol, relationships - all of which are unfulfilling in the end because they are not our reason d’etre.
They’re missing the main goal at the top of their to-do list: love God and serve Him forever.
Loving God and serving Him forever is the first thing which is written at the top of our daily project list. It’s the glasses through which we must view the rest of our endeavors. It becomes not just a goal to reach, but who we are. It’s not saying six sentences to God in the morning and then I’m done for the rest of the day. It’s not the first errand to accomplish when we’re out running errands; it’s the mantle we wear as we’re running those errands. Loving God and serving Him forever is indelibly written on our to-do lists - if we belong to God.
And, if we belong to God, God’s right there with us as we accomplish each more minor goal. The Israelites had conquered the land; it lay subdued before them. They set up the tent of meeting; God was with them, dwelling in the midst of Israel. They just had to keep God first in their lives. They just had to put Him and His ways at the top of their daily to-do list. There was still work to be done, and they desperately needed God to be part of their daily lives. We have to learn the lesson recorded for us: we have to be sure that God is dwelling in the midst of us, that He’s part of the fabric of our daily lives, that He’s at the top of our to-do list, that loving Him and serving Him forever is our primary goal, our reason d’être. Because, as long as we’re alive, there’s lots to accomplish; there’s still work to be done.