Go to Bed, Lynda
Numbers 1-3
I've tried to always made it a rule never to pull a verse of Scripture out of its context and force it say something it doesn't. But I'm going to do it on this occasion.
In the context, God is speaking about the Levites. He told Moses that Aaron and his descendants were to be treated differently from all the rest of the Israelites because of their unique calling. He then stakes a special claim of ownership on them because of that uniqueness.
These days I have lots of things on my mind, mostly items that are "up in the air" and haven't been successfully resolved as yet, concerns that so easily cross the line into anxieties. Two of those "items" are Abby and Lou who are about to embark on the journey of their lives, a journey I know they are going to hate, and a journey not without its dangers. They are about to fly to Canada from Venezuela in the cold hold of an A319. The whole process is complicated and throughout it God has constantly been gracious enough to remind me that if I care about them and their safety, He, their Creator, cares even more. So I am hugging this verse even as I admit that I am stretching it to mean something that is true, but that isn't what this verses is referring to.
"They are…mine, I am the Lord" Numbers 3:13.
Ownership brings responsibility. I feel the responsibility of being the owner (or being owned) by Abby and Lou. But how much more responsibility does their Creator have for them. They are more His than they ever will be mine.
And if I am going to twist this verse anyway, let me apply it even more broadly. I am His. That makes Him responsible for me too. That claim of ownership brings to that which is owned an immediate message appropriate for 11:42 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17th: "Go to bed and sleep in peace, Lynda. You are mine and I, the Lord God Almighty, will look after you and Abby and Lou just fine."
I've tried to always made it a rule never to pull a verse of Scripture out of its context and force it say something it doesn't. But I'm going to do it on this occasion.
In the context, God is speaking about the Levites. He told Moses that Aaron and his descendants were to be treated differently from all the rest of the Israelites because of their unique calling. He then stakes a special claim of ownership on them because of that uniqueness.
These days I have lots of things on my mind, mostly items that are "up in the air" and haven't been successfully resolved as yet, concerns that so easily cross the line into anxieties. Two of those "items" are Abby and Lou who are about to embark on the journey of their lives, a journey I know they are going to hate, and a journey not without its dangers. They are about to fly to Canada from Venezuela in the cold hold of an A319. The whole process is complicated and throughout it God has constantly been gracious enough to remind me that if I care about them and their safety, He, their Creator, cares even more. So I am hugging this verse even as I admit that I am stretching it to mean something that is true, but that isn't what this verses is referring to.
"They are…mine, I am the Lord" Numbers 3:13.
Ownership brings responsibility. I feel the responsibility of being the owner (or being owned) by Abby and Lou. But how much more responsibility does their Creator have for them. They are more His than they ever will be mine.
And if I am going to twist this verse anyway, let me apply it even more broadly. I am His. That makes Him responsible for me too. That claim of ownership brings to that which is owned an immediate message appropriate for 11:42 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17th: "Go to bed and sleep in peace, Lynda. You are mine and I, the Lord God Almighty, will look after you and Abby and Lou just fine."
When do they arrive? Are you counting down the days?
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