Scripture Daily

Context No. 1595 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 34:6-12: in context

6“‘For the western border, you shall have the great sea and its border. This shall be your west border. 7“‘This shall be your north border: from the great sea you shall mark out for yourselves Mount Hor. 8From Mount Hor you shall mark out to the entrance of Hamath; and the border shall pass by Zedad. 9Then the border shall go to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your north border. 10“‘You shall mark out your east border from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11The border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. The border shall go down, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward. 12The border shall go down to the Jordan, and end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders around it.’”

God defines for Israel the exact borders of the land they are to inherit: the great sea on the west, a line running by Mount Hor and Hamath on the north, a boundary down to the Sea of Chinnereth and along the Jordan to the Salt Sea on the east. It is a careful marking-out of the inheritance, a defined territory with fixed limits, the portion God had appointed for his people, this far and no farther.

What is quietly instructive is that the inheritance had borders, defined and fixed by God. Israel's land was not unlimited; it was a particular portion, marked out with precise boundaries, the territory God had appointed for them and no more. There is a settledness in that, a security even. The people did not have to wonder how much was theirs or reach endlessly for more; God had drawn the lines, and within those lines was their inheritance, given by him. There is wisdom to be drawn from this about the boundaries God sets in our own lives. Each of us is given a particular portion, a defined set of circumstances, gifts, opportunities, and limits, the boundaries of our own inheritance, drawn not by accident but by God. And there is peace in accepting those boundaries rather than restlessly grasping beyond them. Much of our discontent comes from refusing the lines God has drawn, coveting the portion given to others, reaching for what lies outside the borders of our own inheritance, never content within the territory we have been given. The psalmist found another way: the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a good inheritance. To accept the boundaries God has set for our lives, to be content within our own portion rather than endlessly reaching beyond it, is to find the settledness Israel was given with its defined land. God draws the borders of our inheritance, and there is peace in dwelling within them rather than forever straining past them toward what was never appointed to be ours.

Am I content within the boundaries God has drawn for my life, my own portion of circumstances, gifts, and limits, or do I restlessly grasp beyond them, coveting what lies outside my inheritance, when there is peace in accepting the pleasant lines God has appointed for me?

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