God's portion

Numbers 18:29 This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God’s portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest. Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get.

God is telling Aaron and the Levite priesthood how they are to handle the tithe that God receives from the People of Israel. They are to tithe that tithe, that is give 10% of the 10% that all the people give, and use the rest for their livelihood, since they have been given no land. They are not to give just any old ten percent, though, they are to give the best and holiest of everything they get.

God wants the best part of us. When I was a child, milk was delivered in returnable glass bottles, and since the milk was not homogenized, all the cream sat at the top of the milk; you had to shake the bottle to make sure it was distributed equally. God wants that cream at the top of the bottle. God wants your attention when you are at your freshest, brightest and most clear minded. That doesn’t mean not to go to God when you are struggling; it means to make sure that that is not the only time you seek God. When we only seek God in times of distress and trouble, we don’t develop a strong enough foundation in God’s presence, and may find God inaccessible when we most need the Sacred Presence. It is the daily practice of placing everything that I am before God, the best of what I am, my life and all that I do, which develops a spiritual foundation that is capable of sustaining me in difficulty.

Prayer: Dear God, Whatever I offer You today, let it be my best. Let me remember to honor You and thank You for all that I have with all that I am. Amen.