Joshua 4 is when Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan into the promised land. The Levites take the Arc in first - causing the water to divide, and then they wait in the center of the dried-up river while all of Israel marches across. Then God tells Joshua to gather 12 stones for each tribe of Israel and make an altar on the other side of the river.
My first thought is . . . twelve? If you do the math, there's always been thirteen tribes of Israel (Joseph received a double portion - and his two sons each have a tribe.) So the immediate question is - who got left out?
Rest assured it was the Levites, the guys in the middle of the river - holding back the waters and effectively "doing all the work" - and yet, no stone for them. Awww :( If I was a Levite would I be angry? Would I be bitter?
Probably, and yet, in this bitterness a few humbling thoughts just might occur to me - one, as much as it may seem - I am NOT the one holding back the waters. Its God. Second, my "stone," my "reward," my "recompense" is the relationship that my tribe alone shares with God, and if I stop long enough to get over my pride - I realize how incredibly more valuable that is.
How many of us are living like bitter Levites? Doing all the hard work and never getting any of the rewards - the temporary, fleeting rewards (come on... its a big moldy rock.) How many of us fail to realize that there is nothing we accomplish short of God's power and neglect the true, indestructible treasure we have in store for us.
I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment