Our Heavenly Father knows that we need the safety, warmth and nurture of a protective environment, and wherever he has established a boundary, it is for that very purpose. And while we might find his boundaries restrictive, we would do well to remember that one hundred percent of the time, they are for our good. Thank God for boundaries!
The Journey // Focus: Numbers 34:1-2
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries.
Human beings have a love-hate relationship with boundaries. Intrinsically we know we need them, but throughout our lives we resist and resent them. Such is the rebellious nature of our fallen condition. So distorted is our view that we treasure the security that boundaries provide but crave the freedom of breaking loose from what we wrongly think holds us back. Somehow, we just can’t blend the two; we see boundaries and freedom as an oxymoron.
Yet boundaries are the Creator’s special gift to us—a gift that opens the way to another of the Creator’s special gifts: freedom. When we learn to accept the gifts and understand that both are two sides of the same coin, we can then come into a dimension of living that allows us to thrive in the abundance of a very wise and purposeful God.
Do you realize that God is a being of boundaries? From the very beginning, God established that Adam and Eve would have freedoms unimaginable to humans today, but there were limits. They couldn’t eat the fruit of just one particular tree. The limitation was both a test of their trust in the wisdom and love of God as well as a protection from the forces that would destroy them if they didn’t trust and obey him.
And now, in Numbers 34, as the Israelites are about to make their way into another land of abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey, God clearly defines the boundaries that will keep them safe, orderly and blessed within the freedoms of the inheritance he is giving them. The boundaries are a gift from their Creator. Embracing them will allow them the freedom to thrive. Living within them will demonstrate their trust in a loving, all-wise God. Honoring them will keep their nation safe. For Israel, these geographical boundaries were a special gift from their loving Father.
At the birth of our first child, the nurses at the hospital sat my wife and me down and gave us the Cliffs Notes version of Parenting 101. It was sort of a “Parenting for Dummies”—and while my wife didn’t really need it, I definitely did. And I distinctly remember the instructions on how to tightly wrap our little jewel in a baby blanket. When we laid our little girl down for her nap, they showed us how to tuck the blanket around her and into the sides of the crib so that she could barely move; she would be almost mummy-like. Why? Because they reminded us that she had spent the past nine months within the confines of a warm, safe and nurturing womb, and would not immediately know how to handle the freedoms of this new world.
We are no different before the watchful eye and tender care of our loving Heavenly Father. He knows that we need the safety, warmth and nurture of a protective environment. So wherever he has established a boundary, it is for that very purpose. And while we might find his boundaries restrictive, we would do well to remember that one hundred percent of the time, they are for our good.
What are the boundaries that God has given you? Just open your Bible and you will immediately see them. They are throughout his Word, both in the form of “thou shalls” and “thou shall nots”. They are found in the Ten Commandments and in the Sermon on the Mount. They are tucked into the epistles and scattered throughout the psalms. And each one, whether it makes sense or not, whether it challenges today’s conventional wisdom or not, is simply a reminder of how much your Heavenly Father treasures you and desires to bring you into the freedom of abundance.
Believe in the blessings of the boundaries! They will be what takes you into a land of incredible freedom.
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