Necessity Verses Vision

“And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their rooms: because there was pasture there for their flocks.” (1Ch 4:41 AV)

This verse is referring to the tribe of Simeon.  Joshua began conquering Canaan in 1410 BC.  Hezekiah began to reign in 710 BC.  Simeon had an inheritance in the midst of Judah because they had a history of being a little undisciplined.  So, the LORD gave them an inheritance surrounded by the tribe that would rule: Judah.  What is striking here is the time it took and the motivating factor in finally conquering what was rightfully theirs.  The real sad thing is, they would only get to enjoy it for a few decades.

There is a difference between being motivated by necessity verses being motivated by vision.  Simeon was motivated by the later.  They conquered their inheritance because they had no other choice.  Their flocks needed pasture.  If they were an industrious tribe whose economy relied more on a trade, perhaps they would never have conquered their inheritance at all.  They ran out of room so they finally decided to claim what was theirs to claim.  Too bad.  They could have accomplished much more. They could have realized prosperity much earlier and enjoyed the blessings which the LORD had for them all along.  But they had no vision.  They only did that which they minimally had to do to make it work.

I fear this is the condition of many independent Baptist churches today.  There is no vision.  We are doing what needs to be done to survive.  We are content with things the way they are and there is no desire to see anything that might mean our life will radically change.  We complain that we need revival.  Yet, we are the greatest hindrance to it.  The preacher has a vision and passion, yet the people have no heart for it.  It astounds me that Simeon took 700 years to claim that which the LORD had for them and by the time they attained God’s blessings, it was too late to really enjoy it.