Fight BackSample

When Israel was in Egypt, they waited on God for deliverance, but in the promised land, God was waiting for them to take dominion. In Egypt, God did everything for them with minimum participation from them. In the promised land, God did everything with them, expecting maximum participation from them. 

After exiting Egypt, they had to wait for the wind to split the Red Sea, but when entering the promised land, God had to wait for them to step into the Jordan River first before He stopped the flow. I find it interesting that God didn’t tell Joshua, “I will give you every place I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  Instead, “I will give you every place you yourself tread on.”  Every place you march over. Every place you crush underfoot. Every place you trample on. That speaks of warfare. That requires dominion. 

This may come as a shock, but Israel didn’t get what they were promised; they only got what they fought for. Everyone got deliverance from Egypt, but not everyone got dominion in the promised land. Only those who were willing to “tread” on, exercise their authority, crush the enemy, wage warfare and fight got something.