We are in 1 Chronicles 5-6 this morning and right at the beginning of Chapter 5, I found myself saying, "There it is again..."
Consequences.
( Picture Big Bold Letters 😉)
If you've been reading through Kings with me, you know we've talked about this over and over. One of the biggest questions people ask is, "Why would a loving God allow this?" But as we walked through Kings, we kept seeing the same pattern.
God warned. God waited. God sent prophets.
God gave chance after chance after chance.
And eventually The consequences came.
Now we start Chronicles, and before we even get into the story, we're reminded of it again.
Reuben was the firstborn. By all accounts, the birthright should have been his. But because of his choices, he lost what had been entrusted to him. Now God didn't stop loving Reuben. That's important to understand. But love doesn't cancel the consequences.
I think somewhere along the way we've confused grace with the absence of consequences. Grace forgives. Grace restores.
Grace gives us a future. But it doesn't always remove the ripple effects of our choices.
Then I got to Chapter 6. The Levites didn't receive what everyone else received. No large territory. No big inheritance. At first that almost seems unfair. Until you realize that the Lord Himself was their inheritance.
I had to put my Bible down for a minute and take some time in worship, I needed a just me and Jeus moment. Lately I've been listening to Sound Mind by Melissa Helser, and every time I hear the words, "This is my inheritance," they hit differently.
I've shared this song with so many people over the past year because of the powerful truth it carries. More than once, these words have calmed my fears, grounded me in worship with the Father, and reminded me of what is actually true when my emotions wanted to tell a different story. There have been so many moments when anxiety and fear have tried to creep in, and this song has brought my focus back to Him.
And today...
I needed it again.
As I read that the Levites inheritance wasn't land but the Lord Himself, those words came flooding back "This is my inheritance."
God has been stripping away so many things in my own life. My Old identities. My Old expectations. The things I thought I needed and the very things I thought defined who I was. And through all of it, He's been teaching me something I don't ever want to forget.
If everything else was taken away.
If every title disappeared
If every ministry changed
If every dream looked different than I
ever imagined
But I still had Jesus,I would still have my inheritance.
And isn't that what we should have been chasing all along? Not a bigger and better ministry. Not a bigger platform. Not even a bigger territory. Yesterday i pointed out that when most people teach about Jabez, the message usually centers around one phrase: "Lord, enlarge my territory."
But think about this with me for a moment today. What if before God enlarges our territory, He wants to enlarge our understanding of who He is? What if the first territory God wants to expand isn't around us but within us. Maybe He wants to enlarge our faith first. Shouldn't it be that way. He needs to enlarge our trust, our worship and our understanding that he is enough. He is all that we need. He wants to enlarge His territory inside of us.
The greatest thing God has ever promised us isn't a place. It isn't a position. It isn't even his promises fulfilled in our lives.
It's His presence.
The Levites didn't get less than everyone else.
They got more. They Got Him!
He is the ultimate inheritance!
Love Pastor Mandy
MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope
Daily Reading 1 Chronicles 5-6
@highlight
Add comment
Comments