Numbers 31-33

Numbers 32

While reading our assignment of Numbers 31-33 I was really struck by the fact that 3 tribes asked for a different land from the promised land to be their inheritance.

What struck me about this request was the fact that the Israelites had already been wandering around the desert for 40 years because of their disobedience and now the 3 tribes ask for a different land than what God had promised to give them. Why did they chose to settle in a land that wasn't the one God had promised them and their families?

The thought that came to me regarding this was that God's promises to us are the best. Period. In Proverbs it says that God withholds NO good thing from the righteous. It reminds me of a situation I faced in college. I had a good opportunity right in front of me that I had the option of pursuing...but I also had a great opportunity that God had promised me that wasn't in front of me; I had to wait for it. My friend said some of the wisest words to me while I was deciding what to do. He said, "Hannah, don't settle for a good thing that's right in front of you if it's not the great thing that God has promised you."

That's my challenge this week. Don't be like the Israelites and settle for a "land" that is right in front of you if it's not the "land" that God has promised you--because what He has promised you is the BEST. Did anyone notice that the land the 3 tribes settled for was right across the river from the Promise land? There's a principle in that too...hold out for what God has promised because it could be right across the "river" from where you're at now.