Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Command the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries:’
'Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern boundary will start from the end of the Salt Sea, cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin, and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Sea.’
'Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.’
'For your northern boundary, run a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad, continue to Ziphron, and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north.’
'For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Kinnereth. Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea.’
'This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.'"
Moses commanded the Israelites: "Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The Lord has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan of Jericho, toward the sunrise."
The Lord said to Moses, "These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua, son of Nun. And appoint one leader from each tribe to help assign the land. These are their names:
Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;
Shemuel son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;
Elidad son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;
Bukki, son of Jogli, the leader from the tribe of Dan;
Hanniel, son of Ephod, the leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph;
Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, the leader from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph;
Elizaphan, son of Parnach, the leader from the tribe of Zebulun;
Paltiel, son of Azzan, the leader from the tribe of Issachar;
Ahihud, son of Shelomi, the leader from the tribe of Asher;
Pedahel, son of Ammihud, the leader from the tribe of Naphtali."
These are the men the Lord commanded to assign the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.
Numbers 34
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As the Israelites prepared to enter Canaan, there were some other details that needed worked out first. As we have seen, God addressed how the land would be divided amongst the tribes of Israel but the boundaries of the Promised Land were yet to be established, something we see the Lord taking care of in Numbers, chapter 34.
There, we find God speaking through Moses to tell His people about the exact placement of the northern, southern, eastern, and western boundaries of their nation. He then reminds the Israelites that they are to “assign (the) land by lot as an inheritance”, giving it “to the nine and a half tribes”.
Why nine and a half tribes and not twelve?
You’ll recall that “the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh” had asked for and received land on “the east side of the Jordan of Jericho, toward the sunrise." They would still cross the Jordan to fight alongside the other Israelites but once the conquest was over, they would once again cross the Jordan to join their families who would be left behind in fortified cities.
As for assigning Canaan to the other nine and a half tribes, we find God designating “one leader from each tribe to help assign the land” by name.
While this particular scripture passage seems pretty cut and dry, I believe it offers us this important truth about God:
He is a God who sets boundaries. He did so for the nation of Israel and He does so for us as well in regard to our behavior as believers. Consider these words from Galatians, chapter 5:
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Vv. 16-21
Within the scriptures, we often see where God sometimes sees boundaries as territorial.
One example of this is looking at the tabernacle for we know that the Israelites weren’t permitted to enter the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place. Only the high priest was permitted to do that.
You’ll also remember that the people of Israel weren’t allowed to set foot on Mount Sinai while Moses went up to meet with God.
And here, we see how He set the exact location of the perimeter of the Israelite nation.
As for us today, God also established places that we shouldn’t go, places that would serve to lure us into sinfulness more than righteousness. For example, strip clubs are very prevalent in our society and they cater to men and women. It’s not a place that Christian believers should be visiting given that they are havens of sexual lust and immorality and yet, it happens. For some reason, disciples of Jesus willingly choose to go places where He would never have gone unless it meant rebuking sinful behavior and offering a better life in Him.
And although not all bars, nightclubs, and parties might be bad, most of them do breed rather illicit behavior from its patrons, especially if alcohol is served. I’ve seen this first hand during my time in the Navy while serving as a drug and alcohol program advisor. It was sad witnessing so many people louse up their lives and military futures because of alcohol, either through addiction happening or violent or illicit behavior stemming from alcohol impairment.
In regard to the latter, my view is that alcohol simply assists someone in changing who they are when sober, releasing inhibitions that are usually kept in check. In other words, alcohol doesn’t actually cause bad behavior but just opens the gates for that dormant bad behavior to emerge.
Here’s a few scenarios to serve as examples:
Those who drink and then have an affair would want others to believe that the alcohol caused them to cheat. But the truth of the matter is that the person always had a lustful heart but never acted on their desires when sober. Then, after drinking alcohol and losing their control over acting on impulses, the person can now act on their once repressed lusts and they often do, surrendering to sin which is adulterous in many circumstances.
Then there are those people who fight after drinking, even though no one has ever seen them get violent with anyone before. Again, it’s not like the person didn’t want to punch someone in the face before but they were always able to keep that urge under wraps. But then, after alcohol is consumed, that same person believes they could take on anybody and when they do, I have seen the outcome have mixed results.
I think we can see why we need boundaries, spiritual guardrails to keep us from running off of the narrow road that we’re to walk in Christ Jesus. We’ll only stay on course if we have our right mind about us and that’s not going to happen when we allow alcohol to cloud and alter our judgment and decision making. Frankly, I think believers would be far better off by abstaining from drinking altogether (I have done so my entire life and this includes nearly thirty years in the military) but if one chooses to consume alcohol, they will need to accept the consequences that come with it.
Going back to the passage from Galatians, we see where there are a lot of other boundaries that God places on our behavior. There, we find Him warning against “sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies.” These requirements are not just meant to dictate what we do but also what we say and think. For committing any or all of these transgressions draw us away from Jesus, the One who we are supposed to model our lives after. To be truly Christian is to be totally Christ-like and we never see Him drunk or committing any of the iniquities mentioned in the Bible because He was perfectly right and righteous...and wants us to be the same.
So how do we stay clear of all these things that God warns us about?
Well, we can go right back to the fifth chapter of Galatians where we find God giving us another set of standards, guidelines that are to help us act, speak, and think the way He desires. Here’s what we should be allowing to dominate and define who we are as we strive to be more like Christ::
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Vv. 22-25
Note here that the Holy Spirit is the key, the Holy Spirit that comes to dwell within every Christian believer the moment they place their trust and hope in Jesus.
When we consult the Spirit regarding how we should live, we will always be guided to a place where we can bear the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” all which are the polar opposites of the list of sinful behaviors such as “sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies.” This life, a life defined by the Holy Spirit, draws us closer to Jesus and as the scriptures promise:
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
In other words, those who are in Christ have taken their sinful nature and nailed it to the cross, committing to not behave in that way again.
Friends, thanks be to God that He has set boundaries to dictate our proper behavior before Him. Now all we need to do is to remain within those boundaries in complete obedience.
Submitting fully to the influence of the Holy Spirit above anything else will get us to that place.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment