But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them. (Joshua 13:33)
Although we are mostly descended Gentiles or adopted children, not part of the division of the lands to the twelve tribes, we receive, as did the Levites, the greatest of all God's treasures, the inheritance in the kingdom of heaven! We can lay no claim to any earthly treasure given to us. There is nothing promised to us in the way of property or possessions. Yes, as with the Levites, we are rich in grace. We are servants who have no title to anything worldly. All that we may possess is lent to us by our Father in Heaven. He does not give us anything that we can keep or take with us into the next life. We have the greatest of all gifts, because no one can tax it, no one can destroy it, no one can take it from us - the gift of eternal life.
Our spoils of war are the scars we bear that no one sees. They are the heartbreaks we live with and the disappointments we try to hide from others. Our battles are often long and seemingly endless. We fight an enemy so devious that we don't always see that it is he we are fighting. He comes at us often through beautiful words, longings and lusts reminding us of what we do not have, that others do have - as if God had forgotten about us, or found us less deserving of relief or joy than those around us. Satan tortures us with things of beauty and ease, tries to find a weakness to play on (and we all have them).
We pray for an easier life. We pray for peace of mind. We pray, sometimes, for just a little bit more than we have, we pray for an end to the suffering and the torment by the enemy. We move about, sometimes paralyzed and unable to pray, yet always with our thoughts towards heaven and it's maker. Our rest is interrupted by nightmares and terror at what may lie ahead, all while knowing that we will survive it, because in that survival lies the promise. That promise that we are loved, that promised that we are accepted, that promise that we will be blessed and that we will, when this life is over, be in the presence of our inheritance!
For far too many years, I have spent this day wiping tears, remembering moments and imagining what life would have been like had God's plan not taken a sweet, caring soul from this world when He did. In those thirty-nine years, she has never been far from my thoughts, nor from the thoughts of those closest to her. Her laughter lives on in each of us and our hearts long to hear one more word or have one last glance. She is in the greatest place imaginable, in the presences of our mighty King. She took nothing with her, yet she has more than she will ever need. Like those of us still left here, she battled the enemy and fought the demons and was triumphantly received into a place of honor and glory for all eternity! She has received her inheritance and patiently waits for us to receive ours.
God's plan for us may just be to walk with Him each day until the time comes for us to receive our inheritance. We may never be the great orator, the popular celebrity, or the rich philanthropist we might like to believe we could be. We may never own more than the clothes on our back, we may never be the one who gets "all the breaks", and we may never be anything more than a footnote in someone's family history - but we are destined for greatness, in a quiet and subtle way - we are destined for heaven - there is no greater inheritance than that!
