Deuteronomy 2:7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
About a mile east of Bill Rice Ranch is a nondescript grove of trees right off of Highway 96. Inside that grove of trees, you would find a house literally melting into the ground. My Uncle Pete used to live in that house, and before he lived there Archie Macon, our old farrier, used to live there. Uncle Pete bought the house from Mr. Macon’s widow.
Before Archie Macon, I don’t know who lived there. I do know that the original living room of that house was made of logs with a hand-cut stone fireplace. Before those who carved that fireplace lived there, it was probably the natives. My point is that we are not the first to be here, and we will probably not be the last. That is a perspective that we don’t generally have.
Here on the Bill Rice Ranch there is Scales Mountain. In my mind it has always been here, and I have always been here. We have the “copyright” on that mountain, yet there are people buried on that mountain, the Haynes family, who were alive back when George Washington was President.
Most of us never stop to consider who lived in our place before we did. What of the people who were there before there was a state, a country, or competent records? You see, “the earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,” Psalm 24 tells us. Because that is true, whatever you have, whether money, time or life itself, you can trust the Lord with your lot in life.
God was allotting the land of Canaan, and each of the tribes was given a certain lot, a parameter or boundary, that defined a certain part of that land. God has also given us boundaries today. The days of our life are hemmed in, the very waters of the earth are given boundaries, our abilities are given boundaries, our money is within boundaries, and so on. God says in this chapter, “I have begun to give…begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit.” That is the basic ethic.
Now here is what is interesting. On a couple of occasions God said, “This particular piece of property I have given to certain people. Don’t bother them.” For instance, the land of Seir God had given to Esau. In another case land had been given to the descendants of Lot. Then God says something very interesting. Verses 19 -23 basically say that before Lot, there were other people dwelling in the land of Lot, and before they were there, there were still earlier inhabitants. Lot then succeeded them all and “dwelt in their stead.”
In other words, there were people living on the plot of ground you live on long before you were there, and there very well may be people you’ll never know who will be there after you are gone. Your very life has limits. Your abilities and your money are within boundaries. They are finite.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” That means you can trust Him with your lot in life whether it is great or small. Sometimes you may think, “Well, I just have a little bit, but they have a lot.” Yet, while all of us have boundaries of possession, we should improve upon what we have and ask God if we wish for more.
Joshua once told complaining tribes who did not like their lot that if they did not think their lot was sufficient, they were to chop down trees and improve the lot they had. The land of Canaan consisted of plains, mountains, coastal areas, and no two lots given to Israel’s tribes were exactly the same. So, the stewardship for each of the twelve tribes was different.
You know what? Your stewardship may well be different from that of others. You don’t own it, you steward it. There were people who were here before you were here, and there are people who will be here long after you are gone. That is why verse 7 is so heartening because God has blessed you. He knows you. He knows your walking through the wilderness, and He has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
Today, it may well be that it would be appropriate for you to ask God to expand your opportunities. It may be that you need to improve upon your opportunities, but whatever you do, you need to accept what you have as a gift, a stewardship. At the end of the day, your lot in life is not an imposition, it is an opportunity.