God’s borders show His intentions for our inheritance. They are important to us.

You will miss what I’m saying in this devotional unless you stop right now and read Joshua 19:10-15.     (I trust you did that and are back.)

Did you ever wonder why this seemingly unnecessary list of ancient cities is part of the Bible that God needed us to have?’ Is there any value in us knowing the names of all the cities allotted to Israel’s twelve tribes, or why we need to know in detail the plot lines for each tribe’s endowment? Will anyone memorize these passages and will many pastors attempt to preach a series on these ancient places? Probably not.

Yet consider this: God is into boundaries and geographical lines on maps. Borders are important to Him. Acts 17:24-27 ²⁴ “He is the God who made the world and everything in it… From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.” NLT  (We need God’s guidance to solve our current border issues).

But I see another related reason why God carves out borders so carefully. He wants us to know and obtain our full inheritance. For example, He plans to bless us with perfect peace (Psalm 29:11, Isaiah 26:3). Satan desperately wants us cheated out of this inheritance.

Take note of Psalm 23 and its spiritual ‘property’ we’ve been endowed with: God offers green pastures, still waters, restored souls and the possibility of righteous lives. When Satan has his way, we’re left with dry pastures, polluted water, and confused souls wrapped up in chaos and living lonely sad lives. Somebody pilfered our inheritance!

God wants us living within the boundaries He assigned for us. If my Father offered me a suite in his home, I wouldn’t stick around the tents of the homeless. God’s destiny for us is beyond comprehension… and so is our willingness to let Satan steal that destiny and God’s dream for our lives. We’ve been bought with too high a high price to allow that to happen.

One last question: Why such a careful listing of people with totally unpronounceable names throughout? Are they there to embarrass us as we try to read? No… God has purposely set each one there to show graphically how important every person is to Him. Whether they turn out to be heaven’s heroes and have achieved great things …or failed miserably. God loves every person enough to include their full names in His Book!

God places us on good land. We just need to want to live there under his loving care.