Your Tribe Matters
Goodness, again with the millipede. Maybe after I have all these lessons they will not be an issue anymore. Clearly, I heard, “Who is your tribe?” Take a minute and read through all the tribes of the Word. Pay attention because each Tribe has a different function. Yes, really read through each one and meet me on the other side.
In Genesis 49: 1-28 Jacob called each one of his sons together and blessed them.
Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honor, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father’s bed,
onto my couch and defiled it.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords[a] are weapons of violence.
6 Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.
8 “Judah,[b] your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,[c]
until he to whom it belongs[d] shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.[e]
13 “Zebulun will live by the seashore
and become a haven for ships;
his border will extend toward Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a rawboned[f] donkey
lying down among the sheep pens.[g]
15 When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.
16 “Dan[h] will provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider tumbles backward.
18 “I look for your deliverance, Lord.
19 “Gad[i] will be attacked by a band of raiders,
but he will attack them at their heels.
20 “Asher’s food will be rich;
he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
21 “Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.[j]
22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.[k]
23 With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
24 But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed[l] limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty,[m] who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
26 Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than[n] the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among[o] his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Each Tribe had a function and an identity that was separate from the rest. Each one had a specific role to be played. We do too.
As I once again was picking up another millipede to toss in the toilet the LORD drew my attention to the fact that not one time did I see the millipedes walking together. Remember what I was talking about yesterday? Millipedes will not even procreate outside their natural environment. Remember they go from living 7-10 years to 2-4 weeks? That is a big difference.
Let’s talk about friendship for a moment. Friendships and Tribes go hand and hand. Some of us are going through this life thinking that we are supposed to do all this alone, NOPE. We are made for relationships. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us;
“Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
We are called to have friends. We need friends. Remember Aaron and Hur? As long as Moses kept his arms up the Israelites were winning.
Exodus 17:10-13, tell us;
Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses’ hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.
Sometimes we need someone to hold up our arms. Sometimes we need someone to intercede for us. Sometimes we just need someone to hug us and tell us, “It will be okay.” We need friends. We also need the right friends.
Proverbs 27:17 tells us;
“As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
Go back and look at each one of the Tribes of Israel. Each one of the tribes had a different role to play. Guess what? Each one of us has a different roll to play also. Each one of us has a specific tribe that we are supposed to be in for this moment in time.
The same week that the LORD talked to me about position, He showed me the sword. If iron sharpens iron, we have to be in a tribe that is going where we are going. If you look at a sword it is meant to be swung back and forth, cutting from both directions. IF one side is pristine sharp and the other has knicks and waves in it the weapon will not be as good as it needs to be when it is being used against the enemy.
We have to walk with those that can sharpen the other side of our sword. We cannot let just let anyone into that place. It has taken me a very long time to realize I cannot have everyone in my circle. By circle, I am talking about the ones you allow into the deeper areas of your life. That does not mean that you will drop everyone else, no, Jesus had three in His inner circle and only one was at the foot of the Cross. By the way, your husband or wife IS part of the inner circle. You are one.
A very wise friend said to me within the last two weeks, “Cassandra, know your audience. Not everyone is going to receive what you have to say.” That goes for all of us. Not everyone is supposed to be in your Tribe. The awesome thing is our Abba removes some and adds new ones. It hurts, it is hard, but, He knows who is going to sharpen the other side of our sword and who is going to knick it.
Choose your Tribe wisely.
