Word of Encouragement (11/17/2022)
And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.” (Num. 32:5)
This is the petition that the tribes of Reuben and Gad brought to Moses (Num. 32:1). We know why they did this: these two tribes “had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock” (v. 1).
But Moses was furious with the two tribes. Did they think about how their decision would discourage the other tribes (vv. 6-7)? Did they not remember why they had to wander in the wilderness for forty years until the previous generation all perished in the wilderness? Was it not because they refused to enter the promised land? Did they want to see the tragic history repeating itself? (vv. 9-15)?
The two tribes were acting as if nothing mattered to them more than their livestock and good land to raise the animals. But man was created in God’s image. He is more than what he eats and wears; more than how big his livestock is and how good his land is. The true meaning of his life, his life’s true fulfillment, cannot be found in his puny self and his small self-interest. He is small in himself—what is man that God should be mindful of him? (Ps. 8:4)—but he is called to live for something much greater than himself. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39).
This is the paradox of life: in losing ourselves for the glory of God, in sacrificing ourselves for the benefit of others, we truly gain our life and more. For “[t]he worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love” (Henry Scougal as quoted by John Piper, The Pleasures of God, p. 15). He who loves God is greater than what he can ever be by being self-centered. When a man loves God, his soul is ennobled by the majesty of God; his heart is enlarged by the greatness of God; his mind is enlightened by the wisdom of God. He who loves and cares for others is expanded beyond himself. If we ignore this high calling and seek our self-interest above all, not only are we reduced to our puny selves, but we also find ourselves in chaos--the kind of chaos that results when God-ordained order is violated.
Israel was to exemplify a life dedicated to God’s high calling to man. But the two tribes of Reuben and Gad had forgotten all about it when they saw the goodly land of the Amorites. They were willing to give up the land of God’s promise and abandon their brethren for the sake of their livestock. And Moses reminded them how selfish their request was: “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here” (v. 6)? Thankfully, these two tribes were not like the previous generation. Instead of rebelling against Moses, they pledged to fight alongside the other tribes before they settled down in the land of the Amorites. And God granted their petition.
We should not be what the two tribes were like initially. For our inheritance is far better than the promised land in Canaan; ours is of the eternal, heavenly kingdom of God. Those who belong to the kingdom of heaven must not be selfish. For we have been granted this heavenly promised land through the self-giving love of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we are related to one another not as the twelve tribes of Israel were; we are related to one another as members of the body of Jesus Christ.
May God bless our church to live out what it really is--the glorious body of Christ, whose members share the burden and grow as one to the full stature of Christ Jesus! Let us recognize how indispensable we all are in the body of Christ; let us act as such and treat one another as such!