God’s Chosen Place

Once in a while, I read through the whole Bible in a year. I feel that, otherwise, I’m tempted to read only the familiar bits or the chapters that I think are useful. But actually, the whole Bible is the inspired word of God. Maybe I won’t find anything that specially touches my life on any particular day, but I do get to see the big picture. At the same time, I find God speaking to me in unexpected places.

At the moment, I’m reading the later chapters of Joshua – the ones that list the territories of the tribes as they settle the Promised Land. As I skimmed through them, I felt God reminding me that He has a place for me and for every one of His children.

Fifteen years ago, we were in Northumberland, looking for a home to move to when I was to retire a few months later. We must have looked at about twenty different houses and not one of them seemed right. Then we came to the one we live in now. Everything was wrong! The garden was too small; the carpets and woodwork were all the wrong colours; there were too many bedrooms.

I remember the lady from the estate agent (who knew exactly what we wanted) saying, “I don’t think you’ll like this one.” But we felt that God was saying, “This is where you’ll live.” We put in an offer. And we felt God say that it would be like Jericho: “Keep praying for seven days and it will be yours.” We did, and it was. We’ve lived here for fifteen years, and never once have we seen somewhere we would prefer to live.

When Israel entered the Promised Land, God had a place for each tribe. It was the place of His choosing, the place where they could be settled, fruitful and at peace.

It’s not just our physical location, important though that is. It’s our ‘place in the community’, our friendships, our jobs and activities.

As I skim through the lists in Joshua, I hear God saying, “Each one of them had the place allocated by me – make sure that you settle where I’ve put you.” Maybe a time will come to move on into new activities, new relationships and even a new place. But, for now, this is where God has put us, and we feel settled. And it’s not just about where we’ll settle in the long term. He has His ‘place’ for us for each moment of the day.