These are the men whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan.
– Numbers 34:29
Now that verse in Numbers 34, doesn’t seem all that exciting. It’s a list of a bunch of people’s names. The men, as Numbers 34:29 says, whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance for his people in the land of Canaan. But I want you to think about what this verse and this chapter represents.
Numbers 34:29 reminds us that God’s faithfulness spans generations.
It represents a God who is faithful to keep all of his promises to his people. The whole picture here goes back centuries before this to God’s promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to give their descendants a promised land. This was God’s promise to Moses. I’m going to lead you out of slavery in Egypt to bring you into the land.
I’ve promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. Now it’s about to happen. And as we read Numbers 34:29, I just want to encourage you today that God is faithful to keep all of his promises to his people, to lead, to guide, to be with, to bless his people in all the ways he has promised to do that.
And I just want you to think about how your life today amidst a world where you don’t know what’s coming at you today or tomorrow, over the next month, over the next year, and in the days to come, but you have a rock, a foundation to stand on and the promises of God because you know, just think about all of his promises. No matter what comes your way, he will be with you. He has promised that you can bank your life on that and not just with you.
God will be for you. God will work all things together that come at you in this fallen world. He promises he will work them for good God promises. He will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. God promises peace that passes all understanding to guard your heart and your mind as you look to him and trust in him. God promises to meet you with new mercy.
Numbers 34:29 invites us to live with confidence in God’s provision.
No matter what your days hold and all day long to provide sufficient grace, his grace will prove sufficient for you. His strength will be made perfect in your weakness and in addition to all the promises we have just based on the nature of God, that he is unchanging and all powerful and all loving and all good, and he’s holy. All of these things you can bank your life on because God is faithful to all of his promises, to his people.
And I just want to encourage you today to take heart, to take courage. To take confidence and comfort in this reality. And live with your feet firmly planted on the foundation of God’s promises. Oh God, we praise you for your faithfulness to all of your promises. We praise you for making promises to us that give us confidence today, and tomorrow, no matter what. This world brings our way and especially when we walk through hard days, hard circumstances.
This verse reminds us that all of God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus.
God, you promise to grant us wisdom when we ask to give us joy that overcomes even suffering. Give us peace that passes understanding. You promise to give us everything we need at every moment we need it. You promise to satisfy us with your love. And you promise to lead us. Guide us as a Good Shepherd through whatever life brings our way. All the way until we come into your presence, free from sin and suffering and sorrow and death where you promise you’ll wipe every tear away from our eyes forever.
Oh God, we praise you for your promises. Jesus, we praise you as the one in whom all of God’s promises are yes. And God, we pray for people who’ve never heard these promises. Help us to encourage people today around us. Our brothers and sisters in Christ, to encourage them with your promises. And then to lead others who don’t know you, to trust in your promises. And to make your promises of eternal life known to all who trust in you right around us, far from us.
Prayer for the Lak People
God, we pray for the Lak people of Russia today for 180,000 Muslim men, women, and children in the Pakistan region of Russia, where the Lak people live. God, we pray that your promises and your Word would reach them. That they might know the joy, peace, love, confidence, security, and identity that are found in your promises and your faithfulness to them. Oh God, we pray all of this according to your Word in Numbers 34:29. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
