Joshua 21:1-8

¹ Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel ²at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.” ³ So, as the Lord had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:
⁴ The first lot came out for the Kohathites, according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.
⁶ The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
⁷ The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.
⁸ So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Fallen Leaves

Imagine yourself raking dried leaves in the autumn. You are almost done when strong wind blows the heap of dried leaves you’ve gathered. Isn’t that frustrating? Such is one practical illustration of Proverbs 19:21, 21Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

God’s unique design for each person is a testament of His eternal creativity just as the inheritance of each Israelite tribe was situated in different corner of Canaan. The Lord gave the Levites exclusive responsibilities that other tribes were exempted from.
In Numbers 18:23-24, ²³It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. ²⁴Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”

The Levites were not expected to stay together as one tribe in a single town. They were scattered by clans among the other tribes of Israel. They approached Israel’s tribal leaders to ask which towns to live in and for pasturelands for their livestock.

1. Approached

¹ Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel ² at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.” ³ So, as the Lord had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

The Levites remembered that God had commanded Moses to give them towns and pastureland. So, they approached Eleazar, Joshua and the tribal leaders. They asked what the Lord has planned for them. Similarly, we need to know God’s plan for us.
It says in Ephesians 8-10, ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

By God’s grace we will be living in heaven but God has purposes for us even before that. Our lifestyle: what we do, think, say and decide have eternal significance. God saved us and prepared good works for each of us to do while on earth. What is it?
Normally, we plan for the future but we should follow God blueprint for us. Let see what we may learn from King David’s plans.
In 2 Samuel 7:1-3, ¹ After David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ² he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” ³ Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
When we received the Spirit of Christ, He reveals to us how we should live our life. By faith, we trust that He gives ideas and plans for the ministry to our church leaders. We learn from experience that not all plans are successful. Nevertheless, we do not dismay but pray that God would raise church leaders who listen to Him attentively.

Prophet Nathan told King David in 2 Samuel 7:5, 12-13, ⁵ “ ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

King David’s plan and vision for the temple was ideal but God wanted his son Solomon to implement the plan not David. King David prepared everything needed and King Solomon built the temple. God helped King David to conquer all their surrounding nations and there was peace at the time Solomon built the temple. What do you think?
If David started building the temple and war broke out, the men have to go to war. Who would continue the work? The women and children? Hire builders from other nations? If David can’t personally supervise the work since he would be in the battlefield, would his temple be as magnificent as Solomon’s temple? Does it make sense?
Someone said: “Take just enough food into your plate that you can consume.” Similarly, God has allotted enough good works suitable for each believer.

2. Allotted

⁴ The first lot came out for the Kohathites, according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh. ⁶ The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁷ The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. 8 So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari were allocated towns to live in and pasturelands for the flocks among the other tribes of Israel. They did not choose their preferred towns where they may live or pasture their livestock. The Israelite leaders cast lots for each Levite clan. They accepted the town and pasturelands allotted to them.
The descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clan served as priests. They were officials-in-charge of the Tent of Meeting or the Tabernacle and in the temple.

It says in 1 Peter 2:9-17, ⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

As priesthood of believers, our testimony is at stake. Everything we do, the way we act, the things we post in social media, the way we respond to criticism, the people we hang out with, behaviour in the place we work, our lifestyle speaks loud about our faith in the Lord. We have a cause to promote and testify about.
Do we need to go out in the street and shout about it? Do we need to attract media sympathy? Some group take advantage of media to promote their cause. How should we respond or react?

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder  articulately stated, “It is in your hands to stop all of the killing and the shooting wherever it might be. You cannot say, ‘Black lives matter,’ and then kill yourselves. Because you know we’ve mattered long before it was said, but the way we show that we matter, the way that we show all the various people of color matter is by loving each other and doing something about it. Not just talking about it, not just waiting to see the media and press come when there’s a horrible thing. The first thing you must do is stop believing the fallacy of you not being important. Because it is completely unacceptable for one to hate themselves so much that anyone that looks like you, you want to kill.”

Truly, it is not what we say that really matters most. It is our lifestyle that would exhibit real spiritual maturity. It is not loudest shout that gains reward from the Lord. It is how we live our life in consistency with our faith to the Lord. The way we live our life in the midst of life concerns is a testament of God’s grace.
Memorizing Scriptural verses is helpful reminder but to practice what has been memorized reveals the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, and we obey the Lord.

We can maximize our experience of God’s grace when we seek the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we want to know what ministry God has assigned for us. We want to align our lifestyle with God will. God has a ministry for each of us to do good works in the midst of challenges.

When we are filled and empowered by the Spirit of Christ, we’ve got joy, peace and strength to keep on. It is not by human effort that we persevere when life becomes difficult. Perseverance is a by-product of our faith in the Lord. It says in James 1:2-4, ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When we have perseverance as product of faith, we also have joy, pure joy, in the midst of any kind of trials and difficulties. The joy of the Lord is our strength to keep on keeping on.

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