The Levite Portion

Original post from the Christian Writers Forum blog

It started with my reading Susan May Warren’s Team Hope series. I can’t remember which book, but God being our portion was a consistent theme. Within a week I read the same promise in devotionals. I heard it through music. Now, it’s starting to cement in my brain.

God is my portion.

He is enough.

As Psalm 16:5 states: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”

Joshua 13 and 18 really drove the point home. The Israelites received their lot of land, their portion. Imagine leaving a horrible place, traveling with other kin folk and you make it to the Promised Land. They call out you family name and what kind of land you get.

Smith—Nice fertile land with cute ranch house.

Jones—Lucious green acreage with a mansion (I mean would you expect any less from the Jones’? We are always trying to copy them, after all)

Smythe—low land that floods easily with a mobile home park filled with toys and garbage
Your name—The Lord.

That’s the picture I get from Joshua 13 and 18 and the Levite tribe. Folks lined up for their land announcement. The Levites—no land. Their portion was their service as priests to the Lord. That was their inheritance.

From Joshua 18:1-7: “The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The country was brought under their control, but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance. So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it, according to the inheritance of each. and the house of Joseph in its territory on the north. After you have written descriptions of the seven parts of the land, bring them here to me and I will cast lots for you in the presence of the LORD our God. The Levites, however, do not get a portion among you, because the priestly service of the LORD is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it to them.”

So often I get tripped up in worry, jealousy or even coveting because I see others receiving their portion and as my ten year old would say, it’s “sweet.” We aren’t a family that knows the palm trees of Florida, the ears of Disney or the pineapples from Hawaii. That’s not our inheritance or portion. For the longest time I felt we lacked because we didn’t have those things, places, or lands.

But here is what God showed me as my portion:

1-He has given me the supernatural gift of faith, intercession, and encouragement. I am able to believe God to be big in a person’s situation and pray through it. As the years pass I’m realizing this isn’t something everyone has. God gave me such a generous portion here, and I never realized it. I love He would choose me as a vessel this way. Lives are changed for Him, and I didn’t need any land at all! Just the Lord.

2-He gave us two children who clearly have a calling on their life that is only partially defined so far. I’m not saying my kids are better than anyone’s, not even. I sense they are set apart, and that might not mean missionary to Africa, it could be teaching at a school or giving presentations to audiences about His goodness. Whatever it is, I sense it and am committed to pray for the Lord to direct their steps, not me. I’m not praying they get to cruise the Bahamas and inherit exotic lands.

3-As an intercessor, a praying person who gets direct orders from God to pray on things until He tells otherwise, the last couple years has opened doors to pray for organizations, people, and things to come I can’t believe. Often I treat this as a burden as often He wakes me at night to chat about a country, a person, a place. Not because He needs me or else, He wants me. What a portion!

You have a Levite portion. What is your Godly inheritance that perhaps you kicked the dirt thinking you got cheated and instead realized you have something even better than Willy Wonka’s Golden ticket?

(Additional resources used online by
http://bible.christianity.com/
and
http://www.drbilllong.com/LectionaryII/Ps16II.html)

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Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. She is the tentative debut interview on surrender/fearlessness for Kathy Vick's upcoming website, Run Like a Girl. To get to know Julie better, read her interview by Lynda Schab at:http://www.faithreaders.com/featured-author-details.php?id=33%20 To contact Julie, please use the e mail provided in our profile.