Numbers 3:33-37: a reflection

33Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari. 34Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred. 35The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle. 36The appointed duty of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service, 37the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, and their cords.

As the Levites are assigned their duties for the tabernacle, the family of Merari is given a particular task: they are responsible for the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, pillars, sockets, and all its structural parts, along with the pins and cords. Theirs was not the visible ministry at the altar, but the carrying and setting up of the framework, the heavy, structural pieces that held the whole tent together. Without their work, the tabernacle could not stand; yet their service was the unseen infrastructure, not the visible worship.

Notice the kind of service the Merarites gave: load-bearing and structural. They carried the boards and bars and sockets, the framework on which everything else depended. It was heavy, unglamorous work, easy to overlook, no one watching them set up the frames. But the whole structure of worship rested on their faithful carrying and building; without the framework they bore, there would be no tabernacle at all. Theirs was the essential, unseen support that held everything up.

That honors a kind of service often overlooked. In any community or work of God, there are those who do the visible, up-front ministry, and those who bear the structural load, the unseen, essential work that holds everything together, the setting up, the maintaining, the carrying, without which nothing else could happen. Such work rarely gets noticed, but it is essential; the whole depends on it. If your service is of this kind, the unseen, structural, load-bearing work that supports others' ministry, do not think it unimportant. The Merarites' carrying of the framework was essential to the worship of God; so is the unseen support you give. Bear the load faithfully; the whole rests on such service.

Lord, you assigned the family of Merari to carry the framework of the tabernacle, the frames and bars and sockets, the heavy, structural pieces that held the whole tent together, an unseen, load-bearing service without which the tabernacle could not stand. Help me honor and give such service faithfully. In your work there are those who do the visible ministry, and those who bear the structural load, the unseen, essential support that holds everything together. If my service is of that kind, the carrying, the maintaining, the behind-the-scenes support that rarely gets noticed, keep me from thinking it unimportant. The whole rests on such faithful work. Help me bear my load faithfully, as the Merarites bore theirs, knowing that the unseen support I give is essential to your work.