Where do you live?
Maybe you’re in a bustling city or a laid-back rural community. Maybe you live somewhere between the extremes, in a town that seems busy some days and silent on others.
Wherever you are, have you ever considered that God set you in that particular place for a reason? That He brought you there for a purpose?
We’re living in God’s land, the territory He has given us.
I started a new Bible study/reading plan in January that intentionally has us reading only one or two chapters each day. Reading smaller chunks at a time has helped me soak things in and mull them over a bit longer. It has also helped me notice small phrases along the way.
One of those phrases jumped out at me in Leviticus 25:1-2:
The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD.” (Leviticus 25:1-2 ESV)
The phrase? “When you come into the land that I give you.”
When God said this, the Israelites were in an in-between place: they were no longer slaves in Egypt but were a long way from arriving in the Promised Land God said would be theirs. They didn’t know what path they would take or exactly what would happen once they got there.
But they knew God had chosen them as His special people and that He was taking them to this new place.
Two things struck me when I read this phrase:
God said “when” they came into the land.
He’s reiterating His promise to take them to a new place (God’s first promise to Abram [Abraham] was in Genesis 12; He followed that by making a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15; His promise to free them from Egypt was in Exodus 6:1-13). The people’s journey from Egypt was long and difficult. The Israelites had times of obedience and joy, and times of rebellion and angst. But God didn’t lead them into the desert to abandon them. He promised to take them to a new land, and the “when” in this verse reminded the Israelites (and reminds us today) that God always keeps His promises.
God gave them the land and sent them there on purpose.
Maybe God will give us land (or a situation) to live in for many years. Maybe He’ll keep us there for only a short time before sending us somewhere new. We can’t predict the future, but we can be assured of this:
The place we are is the land God has given us. However long we’re there, we can be His people to those around us.
Here’s to being faith-filled travelers to whatever land God wants us to inhabit.
Your turn: How is God calling you to serve Him in the land where you live? Share your thoughts below and be an encouragement to someone else.
The place we are is the land God has given us. However long we’re there, we can be His faith-filled travelers to those around us. #followingGod #BibleStudy #BibleLesson Share on X