Why am I still here?

Numbers 3; Psalm 37; Song of Songs 1; Hebrews 1

With this pandemic news, I’m thinking of a few near-death experiences. The first was early in life when rheumatic fever put me in the hospital twice. Two doctors gave up, one stuck with it. My mother prayed and I survived. Health issues have threatened since, enough to cause the question: why am I still here?

I tell others that God has a purpose for their lives. What about mine? However, the Lord gave me something that defines my purpose. His message began in Numbers, of all places.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD.” (Numbers 3:11–13)

God’s angel of death took all the firstborn in Egypt when He delivered His people from bondage in that place. However, He spared the firstborn males of Israel at that time. He declared that all the firstborn of men and animals should belong to Him. This principle resulted in the tribe of Levi appointed to serve the Lord full time as a substitute for all the firstborn of the other tribes.

This principle is a pattern for the new covenant explained in the New Testament. The death all should suffer because of sin has been given God’s grace by the blood of another lamb, the supreme Passover Lamb:

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)

That is, I have been saved by the shedding of His blood. By faith, I now belong to Him because He redeemed me from the death my sins deserve, not a physical death but a spiritual death that would separate me from God forever. Redemption involves being set free from bondage to sin by the payment of a price. God says that whoever experiences that redemption becomes His . . .

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

Because I am His, I am to serve Him with my whole life, just as the Levites were marked out as His priests. In fact, that is a major part of why I am here; I belong to a new nation, a nation of priests.

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

Many Scriptures describe the role and the character of God’s priests. I am to be holy, to praise and worship Him, but also to intercede in prayer on behalf of His people, offering myself as a “living sacrifice” for God’s use. My role is to serve God full time, doing whatever He asks of me. I’m hearing His constant call to pray, to be a priest, to intercede for others and take their concerns to Him, particularly when they are not able, for whatever reason, to approach Him themselves.

APPLY: My immediate thought is that a priest does not offer my opinions or assumptions, nor tell God what to do. I’m to pray in His will. That is not as easy as it sounds. It is a sacred duty, not bringing God a ‘gimme list’ but considering what He is doing and taking very seriously what I say to God. A big reason why I am here is because He put me into an army of priests that belong to Him and all of us are to pray without ceasing.