Joshua 21 - Levites and their township

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Synopsis

The Levites were not given land like the rest of the tribes for good reasons. They were appointed to focus on serving God and the people. They should not be worried about fending for themselves. Secondly, since the nation had inherited a vast amount of land in Canaan, Jerusalem (where the temple was to be established) was far away for some of the tribes. As such, the Levites were given towns with pasture land in each of the tribes' territory. By so doing, the Levites were within reach of ALL people in less than a day's journey and thus the Levites could minister to them appropriately.

Major Verses

V43-45 - These verses declared that God had delivered the land according to His promise. Not just that, He also delivered every promise He had made to His people. Some of those promises took time to come to past, but came to past they all did. V45 says "Not one of all the Lord's good promises to His house of Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled."


What I learnt

God fulfills His every promise to us according to His time table. While there will be times we wait impatiently, we must know that His words are sure. In fact, as we learn to constantly count our blessings and remember God's fulfillment of past promises, we can be strengthened to trust Him for the future. That is why it is always good to give our testimony of God's goodness, as it not only encourages others but also will re-affirm His goodness within our hearts.

Men's problem is impatience; we want Him to act NOW and according to our idea of how the outcome should be like. Instead, we should learn to fully trust Him and let Him lead us into the future, in His time.

Summary

As we recall and share of God's goodness and count our blessings, we re-affirm that He fulfills His promises to us. It will give us more confidence to continue to trust Him as we walk into the future.

Up next ....

Chapter 22 teaches us to check before we act... a constant lesson throughout the book of Joshua. Watch out for it on 9th Apr....