14And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto? 15And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. Joshua 17:14,15
I have found myself here on occasion. The children of Joseph knew they were a “great people”. Joshua gives a wise response and tells them to “if thou be a great people” get up and do something. They were challenged to live up to their potential. I want this truth to get a grip on my heart and not let go until I explain this to this generation!
In the book “Up from Slavery” Booker T. Washington gives an incredible example to the people of his race and unto the white South of his day. It is amazing how God can knit what I am learning from the Word of God with truths He is showing me in through different other areas. In 1895, Booker T. Washington gave what later came to be known as the Atlanta Compromise speech before the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. His address was one of the most important and influential speeches in American history, guiding African-American resistance to white discrimination and establishing Washington as one of the leading black spokesmen in America.
A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: “Water, water. We die of thirst.” The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second time, the signal, “Water, send us water!” went up from the distressed vessel. And was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A third and fourth signal for water was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.
To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of preservating friendly relations with the southern white man who is their next door neighbor, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Cast it down, making friends in every manly way of the people of all races, by whom you are surrounded.
To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted, I would repeat what I have said to my own race: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your fireside. Cast down your bucket among these people who have without strikes and labor wars tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, just to make possible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South.
I live and serve in a generation that believes that we deserve something for nothing. We feel a connection with the Mac man on the Mac and PC commercials. We believe we are exceptional cool and smarter then those who have come before us simply because we are “newer”. I desire to “cast down” my buckets. I desire to “cut down some trees” myself. I do not desire to live on the blessing that have been afforded us by the pioneer of the previous generation. I want to cut down my own forests. I want to sweat, bleed, and serve. I have been guilty of thinking I deserved more becuase of my “potential”. There is land to be claimed, let’s go “cut down some trees”.
