Thursday, February 19

Scripture: Then the Lord said to Aaron: You shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites. (Numbers 18:20).

Observation: Now this is trust. God is speaking to Aaron, the first Israelite priest, and is making it plain that neither Aaron nor any of his direct descendants nor any of his family members in the tribe of Levi will be allowed to own private property- no land, no harvest of their own, no income except what is given to them as sacrifice to God. The Promised Land, once the Israelites enter it, will be diced up and doled out to the other tribes of Israel. But the Levites are excluded from the right to hold property. Everything the Levites need to survive, from their food to the clothing on the backs of their children, must be received as charity in return for keeping the worship of God going forever and ever amen. Aaron and his descendants must choose to trust that all their needs will be met out of the generosity of people who offer up their animals, bread, and coins as gifts to God. God, not property, is Aaron’s share. God, not self-reliance, is Aaron’s possession. God is all Aaron and his family have to live on.

Application: Everyone is Aaron. Every human being has to choose to trust that their basic needs will be met. From enough wholesome calories to plenty of clean water to shoes for my child’s growing feet to a blanket to keep my child warm in winter, there is no guarantee that these basic needs will exist and be ready for my use when I wake up in the morning, no certainty that I will be able to provide them on my own power and resourcefulness. The fact that I am alive at all, my beloveds continue to be happy, and human civilizations continue in spite of our tendency to rip social fabrics to shreds is the result of the generosity of a kind-hearted God who chooses, chooses, to be our share and our possession, the source of all we need and then some. God is all we have to live on. Without the Giver, where would the gifts be? Spent and gone. It is for God to provide; it is for me to trust the provision will be there. God help me to trust.

Prayer:

Designer who makes the ocean waves arc in just the right way, there are some beloved children of yours who are scratching their proverbial heads wondering where the money will come from to keep the lights on so their children can finish their homework, and there are some beloved children of yours who have more share and more possession of the overall human allotment than they can spend in their lifetime; and I am somewhere in the middle, a beloved child of yours who must trust, this day, that I will have enough to keep going and enough to share so others can go. You’re wanting me to open my eyes to the truth that You are all a perishable creature like me has to live on, and I avoid this truth at the risk of my soul which, unlike You, has limits and which, unlike You, likes to pretend I can exist without being the beneficiary of charity. Would you please help Your kid finish his homework and show Your beloved children everywhere how to practice the homework You gave us, that is, share? Meanwhile, it’s about time I open my eyes to the only share I possess, You, and choose to trust (you know how hard that is) that You are more than enough for a perishable creature like me. Onward we go: amen.