I love the word provision and I always think of it when I think of all God provides. The action of providing or supplying something for use; an amount or thing supplied or provided. In getting the people ready for entering into the Promised Land God leaves nothing undone. In Numbers 35 He makes way for the provision of the needs of the Levites within the towns the Israelites will possess v. 1-5. Remember, the Lord was their inheritance and He provided towns and pasturelands for them.

He also provided cities of refuge. Then the Lord said to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly. v. 9-12.

If anyone intentionally murdered someone, they were to be put to death. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death. v. 19. However, Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. v. 30.

Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites. v. 33-34.

What is God’s desire? Justice and mercy. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14.

God provides all we need. If we look to Him, He will show us the way to life eternal with Him. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. I John 4:16.

There were those who murdered then and there are those who murder now. We can’t stop what others do. But we can rely on God’s love to lead us to a better way. His love binds us to Him and there we will know peace this world will never provide.