The Benefit of God’s Boundaries

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries….’”

Numbers 34:1-2

Humanity often takes the wrong view on boundaries. We perceive them as restrictive, unfulfilling, and stifling. We feel cooped up and repressed, believing that they keep us from experiencing everything life has to offer. Spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical boundaries feel like impediments, impediments that prevent us from knowing a meaningful, enjoyable existence. But if the boundaries we come across are established by God then our perspective is wholly flawed. For the limits God instills around us are generated in love, protection, and discipline.

Within God’s supreme authority there exists an order and structure to life. This order and structure is often at odds within us because it demands that we recognize God’s divinity is superior to our humanity. We are not an end to ourselves, contrary to our fleshly desire. It takes honest and humble souls to rightly confess that life is not about us; it is about the One Who made us. If we hold fast to this belief then we will gladly welcome God’s holy boundaries and not observe them through a rage-filled lens, but through a respect-filled lens. 

    

It is with this mindset, a mindset that acknowledges God’s boundaries are noble and good, that we consider Numbers 34:1-2. In this passage, the long-awaited time to enter the Promised Land was near. There was surely a sense of celebration and excitement as God revealed final instructions to Moses for the much-anticipated Israelite journey into the land God swore to His covenantal people. In His initial comments, God conveyed that each tribe was to have territorial boundaries. It might seem odd that God would articulate His blessing to the people by framing the blessing’s inherent borders. But to the heart that reveres God the full impact of these words are not confusing or cumbersome. And let us briefly examine why this is the case.

God’s boundaries serve to address our carnal limits, as well as remind us of the limitless kindness God bestows upon us. They shield us and show us God’s security and strength. They are a refuge for the followers of God. That God would care enough to outline margins of sanctuary further validates the vast, amazing concern God renders to mankind. We do well to embrace God’s boundaries and seek to stay on the right side of the Lord’s plumb line.

Humanity is certainly a curious lot. We are prone to question the Lord with reckless abandon and spurn Him with great haste. The natural inclination of man is to reject authority, particularly God’s authority. But God’s believers are empowered with the Holy Spirit to reject fleshly tendencies. So let His people take in Numbers 34:1-2, along with all the other numerous biblical boundaries articulated in Scripture, and adhere to them with utmost faith and fervor. Let us stay within God’s limits and praise Him for marking the way of love, protection, and discipline.