Numbers 1: 47-54
Israel had now been in the wilderness just over one year. Having stopped for a lengthy period of time at Mt. Sinai to receive the Law, God told Moses and Aaron to count all the men who were old enough, and able enough, to go to war. But there was one particular group that God did not want counted--the family of Levi. He was setting them apart from the rest of the men to serve Him as priests of the Tabernacle.
Beginning that day everything concerning the Tabernacle of His dwelling would be the work the Levitical priesthood was charged to do. They would fight battles on a different front than the battalions God now was counting. They would soon be waging war between a just God and the sins of all Israel, through their worship and their sacrifices and offerings on the altar.
But their work assignment involved so much more than that. For the priests, everything that they would do was to be focused primarily on God. They were the first ones who would completely order their lives around God. He clearly had designed it that way. Not only would they be taking care of the tabernacle and its laver, altars, sacrifices, lampstand, table of showbread, veil and ark of the covenant, they were to station their tents immediately around this tent where God dwelt. And when God said it was time to move to the next place, they would be the ones to pack up "God" and take Him with them. God was, in all reality, at the center of their lives, for everything they would do was related to "keeping charge of the tabernacle."
Oh, believing friend, how this life is ours today as well! As part of the royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9), we now carry the tabernacle of God in our hearts! It is now our calling to make Him the very center of all that we think, say, and do. God intentionally designed the lives of the Levitical priests to focus on and center around Him, creating a picture for us of what it means to be part of His royal priesthood now. Your hearts and mine are the very tabernacle of God! How well are you keeping charge of your heart? Is God the "bull's eye" of all you think, say, and do? As His children, we are to keep Him in the center, the target we are aiming at in all things.
Reach over your shoulder and pull an arrow from your quiver. Set it in the string of your bow. Carefully, pull back the arrow, taking aim by aligning the point of the arrow with the bull's eye. Now, gently release the arrow. Did you hit the target?
At the end of this day, count the number of arrows that hit the target. Then count how many arrows you shot. How did you do?
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