Why the Levites? Or why the Israelites, for that matter. Have you ever considered WHY God’s chosen people are His chosen people? The thought has crossed my mind several times, and the best explanation I can come up with is that He just chose them. The shoe must have fit the foot, so to speak. I’m not saying that what I’m getting ready to say is anything remotely like how or why God chose the Israelites, but it does help me to rationalize how it might have come to be. I mean, I know there is tons of ancestry going on, so that explains a huge part of it, but how and why did God establish this bond with a certain people group after several generations branched out and created communities of their own? Like, why didn’t God go with one of those other communities? They had some of the same descendants, and no doubt, God could have used any other people group the same way he used the Israelites. For me, the answer is because that’s who God chose. Have you ever had to make a choice about something that depended on you? Let’s take a litter of kittens for example. Am I comparing the Israelites to a litter of kittens? Why, yes, yes I am. But seriously, how do you choose??? They’re all so cute! You can only choose one, though, because that’s what your mom says, so you scope them out, watch them play, see which one comes to you first. It’s all a process, and it’s not easy to leave those other kitties behind, but the one you eventually take home is the one with which you felt a connection. The shoe just fit the foot! I feel like this is sort of how God chose the Israelites. Something about them just clicked with Him. Something about this line of people resonated with His soul and told Him that He was welcome among them. It’s the same for the Levites. They were chosen because God just had that little ticklish feeling about them: they were special; they were willing; and they were able to do God’s most intimate work competently. We can feel this way also. We are chosen, the one of the litter that God hand-picked. That’s sad and wonderful all at the same time because God certainly doesn’t leave the rest of the litter behind like we have to.
Writing prompt: if the shoe fits
How does your shoe fit? I have a little souvenir pendant I keep in my special “treasure box.” It’s in the shape of the bottom of a shoe, and it has a little hole worn into the sole. Adorable. I received it from a politician who was running for the position of Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner. When he started his campaign, he vowed not to change his shoes until the election was over. Well, his shoes wore thin, became the inspiration for his campaign slogan, and people across the state of Oklahoma received these cute little gold pendants. Carol Fisher won the election that year, … and was later charged with insurance fraud. Not so adorable. I remember when the story broke all I could think about was that shoe pendant and how I felt he’d fooled us all with his humble demeanor. I realized that Carol Fisher’s shoes may have been worn out mostly because his feet didn’t fit in the shoes of our state’s insurance commissioner! Are the shoes you’re wearing too tight, too big or juuuuuuust right? Write about how your feet are feelin’ (metaphorically) today!
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