Appointed to Carry

This week’s Monday Meditations comes from a recent daily reading I did in the book of Numbers.  Hold on! Before you click away in search of a cat playing piano on Youtube, just hear me out.  Numbers 1:50 says,

Put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with all its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings as you travel, and they must take care of it and camp around it.

God was so serious about only the Levites taking care of the Tabernacle that He said any unauthorized person needed to be put to death. 

At first glance, doesn’t it seem like the Levites got stuck with a pretty boring, tedious job? I mean, who wants to carry all the pieces of the tabernacle, set it up, take it down, and do it over and over and over and over…

Something hit me when I read this: don’t underestimate the importance of carrying loads.

We can often despise the “menial” aspects of life, work, family, and church.  We can miss that all of this is important work.  It may not seem like it while staring down an individual task, but step back and see the bigger picture.

If no one took out the garbage after a week.  If you didn’t wash your kids clothes for a month (yikes). If no one vacuumed the church in a year.  There are many examples of carrying loads, and we can keep it in proper perspective.

• We’ve each been appointed to carry loads in all the areas of our lives. It may seem ho-hum, but it’s vitally important. Besides, the Tabernacle was the place of God’s abiding presence. If you’re going to carry the load, you want His presence.
• Colossians 3:23 admonishes us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…”  Paul doesn’t tell us only in our families or only in ministry-related tasks—he says whatever you do.  God placed where He did for a reason and we can carry the load with His help.
• If you’re not carrying your load, others have to make up the difference.  You see this in every area, but even more in churches a lot. The old axiom sure seems to ring true that “20% of the people do 80% of the work.” We’ve been exploring Mad Church Disease and burnout, and this is one reason for it. Some things are simply necessary for functioning, and someone has to carry the load. It doesn’t just go away. Are you carrying your part?

Philippians 2:13 says, “do everything without complaining or arguing.” The reality is that sometimes we simply need to carry our load—that can be in the physical sense or the spiritual sense. 

The good news is, God appointed us to carry it.  He gives us grace (as well as mercy when we fail).  Don’t underestimate the importance of what you’re doing for your family, church, or anything else.  We carry ours and the more we entrust ourselves to others, the more we can lean on them when it becomes to heavy.

What do you think? Do we underestimate the importance of load carrying? Is it hard to see the effectiveness of the “little things” you’re doing in the moment?