Taking Aim

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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?

Take Careful Aim

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Before Israel could enter their new land, Moses was commanded to set before them the choice for either blessing or curses, and it all hinged on their obedience to the Lord. God seeks our surrender today to Him so that we might fully obey all that He has declared to us in His Word. We, like Israel, have seen God's great favor upon our lives. Could there be a more proper response than our obedience?

Those who were now preparing to enter their new homeland, had been small children when they left Egypt, or maybe not even born yet.  But those small children had witnessed the mighty arm of God, working in their midst.  They had seen His miracles, favor, and provision.  They had also seen the death that had come to the chronically disobedient.  They had watched as their fathers failed to keep their covenant promises to their covenant-keeping God.  Now it was their generation's turn to make the same promises to obey their God.  How would they fare?  The choice was up to them, and the results of their lives, whether it be God's blessings or curses, be based on the depth of their obedience to Him.


Today, though believers are under grace (God's favor), that same grace does not mean that when we sin and disobey God's word that we are off the hook. God is our loving Father, and out of His love He will always discipline a wayward child.  Consequences are inevitable.  That is why it is critical for us to aim carefully at the right target!  That target is every word of the Word.  

What are you aiming at?  Do you start your day thinking about all the ways that you can be obedient to God, or all the ways you can "fudge" what He is really asking you to do?  Do you begin your days in a posture of surrender?  (Okay, now I really jabbed myself!)  God's is not winking at our disobedience.  It is not His will that we would claim our human nature as our justification to keep on doing what is displeasing to Him.  If the target is walking in the favor and blessing of Almighty God, are your arrows straight and true?  Is your aim?  God is looking to see where those arrows lie....on the ground, all around the target, or in the bull's eye.