Numbers 31:25-27
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the booty that was captured, both of man and of animal; and divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.”
What can we learn from this passage. What’s happening is that the Israelites warred with Midian by God’s command. Now that it’s over, they are collecting the spoils and dividing them up. Truly an uncomfortable task. Should the soldier benefit from it? A new testament passage that might help is 2 Timothy 2:6. It says, “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.”
How can we apply this? God wants us to serve Him and His people. We do it out of obedience. However, do we benefit from this? Absolutely. Whenever we get the focus off of ourselves, we get better. Our self absorbed tendency usually make our sadness and frustrations deepen. However, serving often cheers us up.
A second benefit to serving is that we can’t out-give God. Jesus points this out in Luke 6:38. As we serve others in His name, we are giving our time, energy and care to Him. He wants to reward that. He will bless us. Part of that make be a lifting of mood. We might complain that we are too busy to serve. He will give us efficiency in our tasks, as long as we are responsible. This blessing could be the aiding of any need in our lives. He’s a creative God and loves to bless us were we don’t expect.
Another blessing to our serving is that we store up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). This one rarely hits home with me. The best explanation is we invest daily in our retirement accounts. We rarely think of it, yet we do it. We will appreciate it when we eventually draw upon it. We will be in heaven one day and we will also appreciate that.
Lord, thank You that You reward our service. One of the many ways to fill our lives. Thank You.