生命、氣息、時間都掌控在神的手裡面，史蒂芬．霍金（Stephen William Hawking）有本著作《時間簡史》，整本書都是研究時間。霍金與歷史上的「牛頓」、「愛因斯坦」等人齊名，然而「時間」在《聖經》的《創世記》裡就講得很清楚：「起初，神創造天地」。「時間」對於神是沒有意義的，因為神是從「永恆」到「永恆」的神。活在時間的裡面，「我們」才有意義，但是神為了要做一件事情，於是時間就開始了、空間就出現了，因為神要「創造天、地」，神沒有要我們研究時間，神只要我們知道：時間來自神。
We all wish God fulfills His promises sooner, don’t you agree? But if God does fulfill His promises too quickly, it is very likely that your life will end in two weeks! If God has given you everything He had promised, of course it is time to go back to your home in heaven.
It is fairly easy for God to give and fulfill promises; we can be a grown-up when we reach 3, then get married and have children right away, retire at the age of six, and we can die when we are 8. God can arrange that, can’t He?
Fulfilling His promises slowly, God allows us to take more time enjoying His presence. We should see things through the eyes of God, and think from His perspectives. We should not see things from a single aspect so that we can be in peace.
Our life, breath, and time are all in God’s hands. Stephen William Hawking wrote a book, A Brief History of Time, which is his research on time. Hawking is as famous as Newton and Einstein. However, a very clear discretion of time had been long written in Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). To God, time is meaningless, because He is alpha and omega; He lives eternally! Time had meaning to us, because we live in it. Time and space came into being because God created the heaven and the earth. God doesn’t want us to study time; God wants us to understand that time is given by Him.
Christians should be able to praise and count on God in both favorable and adverse circumstances; because if you focus on God’s calling, you wouldn’t be tempted easily. God’s timing of fulfilling His promises can only be perfect, if God fulfills His promises according to man’s timing, there wouldn’t be so much fun and happiness in life. The fun of a ball game comes from the ups and downs during the game. A good player requires series of intense trainings, and he/she needs to be able to enjoy the trainings. However, we often complain about the trainings God gives us because we haven’t learned our lesson.
After waiting for a very long time, it was finally the Levites’ turn to receive their share in Joshua 21. Although the Levites did not participate in the allotment, God asked the rest of the tribes to give 48 towns to the Levites; that is, the other eleven tribes all gave about 4 towns to the Levites in average. Since the duties of the Levites included serving God, establishing cities of refuge, and preaching the laws of God, the 48 towns of the Levites must be distributed evenly, and they should not be too far away from the other tribe.
The Gershonite clans got 13 towns, the Merarite clans got 12 towns. The Kohathite clans got more towns than the others; they got 23. These 23 towns are close to Jerusalem, which made it easier for the Levites to serve in the temple in Jerusalem; God had planned it all.
There were other 6 cities of refuge on the east side of Jordan River. There were, from north to south, Golan in the half tribe of Manasseh, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Bezer in the tribe of Reuben. There were also three cities of refuge on the west side of Jordan River; in the land of Canaan, the one at the north was Kedesh in hill country of Naphtali, the one in the middle was Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and the one at the south was Kiriath Arba (Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
If you want to know what attitude God had toward the inheritances or how people should handle the inheritances, first you have to know the locations of the lands. In the same way, you should know your position in your services. In your group, some people devote their time to leading worships and Bible study. While they are serving, others should also spend some time reading the materials for the group meeting in order to be prepared for the lesson or discussion. The story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes encourages us to be prepared. Study the Bible and be ready for the group meeting is that five loaves and two fishes you can offer to God. We all have different positions, and we should all know what we are supposed to do, because we ought to claim our inheritances!
“The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (Joshua 21:44-45).
All facts and God’s blessings were clearly written in the Bible; it is neither boring nor redundant. On the contrary, it emphasizes how things really happened. If we focus on pursuing God, God’s blessing will follow us.
