Two of the Israelite tribes owned “vast numbers” of livestock, Numbers tells us, so they wanted to settle in a land that seemed best suited for grazing. They believed that to be the land east of the Jordan River (not the Promised Land, west of the Jordan), so they approached Moses and asked for permission to settle to the east.
As I read this passage, I was struck with how they thought any land other than the Promised Land would be the best place to settle. They hadn’t even seen the land west of the Jordan yet! It may have been better pasture land. Did they settle for second-best?
This seems so much like what we do today. We see what we think is the best and beg God for it—and He often gives it to us—probably shaking His head and wondering why we don’t just trust Him.
Do you ever settle? I know I have…and I always wish I’d waited for God’s best.
Written by Holly Culhane
