^{When Someone else gets all the toys!}

Most of us have seen a toddler, and maybe even an adult having a tantrum because someone else has a toy they want.

I have (mostly) outgrown having tantrums. But sometimes my reaction when someone else gets something is not great. Like the jealously I felt when a friend got a fancy new car, or my frustration rearing its ugly head at my career plateau with the news my friend has a (well-deserved) promotion.   

Numbers chapter 7 is not the most exciting chapter in the bible. It’s a list of gifts given by the leaders and tribes of Israel to the Lord when the Tabernacle was being dedicated. The gifts included some wagons and oxen.

The tribe of Levi had the job of taking the tabernacle tent down and transporting it and its contents to the next location. Mosses distributed the wagons and oxen among the Levi families according to the work they had to do, carrying the tent poles etc. Out of all of them, one of the families, the Kohathite’s, didn’t get any of the wagons and oxen. The Kohathite’s were responsible for carrying the sacred objects of the Tabernacle. Unlike the tent poles & covering’s, the sacred objects could not be put into the wagons and had to be carried on the Kohathite’s shoulders.

I wonder if any of the Kohathite’s felt jealous because they didn’t get any wagons, maybe they felt left out, unappreciated and second best. As they trudged along carrying everything on their shoulders did the Kohathite’s feel frustrated that they were stuck carrying things while others used the wagons.

There was a good reason for carrying the sacred objects on their shoulders, rather than in wagons. God had told Mosses that if the Kohathite’s touch the sacred object they would die. So, carrying poles were slotted into the sacred objects, or there carrying frames. This allowed the objects to be carried without the Kohathite’s touching the sacred objects. In 2 Samuel chapter 6, we read that generations after Mosses had distributed the wagons, the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred object from the tabernacle, is carried in a cart. While going over rough ground the Oxon stumble and Uzzah reaches out to steady the Ark and he drops dead.

Whatever work God gives us, he equips us for, and does this at the time it’s needed. We don’t all have the same work, so we are not all going to get the same equipment (gifting's, skills etc.). Sometimes I get frustrated with Gods timing, why am I not getting the promotion yet, or think I need something to make the work I have been given easier or more effective. But God see’s the bigger picture, sometimes what or when I want something is not good for me.