Something Even Greater Is In the Works

When God made Aaron and his descendants Kohanim, the priests, there was one person who was left out: Aaron’s grandson Pinchas. God told Aaron his sons and their sons who will be born will be Kohanim. However, Pinchas was already born and thus was excluded from the priesthood. All of Pinchas’s family became Kohanim – his father, uncle, cousins, brothers – except him. It was only until Pinchas stood up against Zimri, the Jewish leader who publicly cohabited with a non-Jewish woman, that Pinchas was rewarded with becoming a Kohen. What was the point if this?

Lesson:

Pinchas could have easily looked at his situation and thought, “God must not like me, maybe I’m not worthy, maybe I did something wrong, maybe I’m not capable…” and the countless other negative things he could have conjured up in his mind as to why he was excluded from a seemingly familial right.

However, had Pinchas been bitter and resentful about God for excluding him, it would have created a self-fulfilling prophecy. He never would have had the love of Torah and God necessary to stand up to Zimri. It was specifically Pinchas’s love and connection to God that allowed him to courageously stand up for God’s honor and glory that led to him earning the right to becomes a Kohen.

While we do not understand why God does what He does – we know that it is only for our benefit out of the great love and compassion God has for us. Pinchas is a beautiful example that we can take to heart to see that an exclusivity was only so that God could bless Pinchas with something much greater at a later date. Not only does Pinchas now earn being a Kohen, which is a much higher level of obtaining something, Pincha’s level is on a much higher level, as God tells him that he has the ‘eternal covenant’. He gets something even greater.

If we allow that seemingly lack to influence and cloud our faith in God or our own self-image or worthiness than we lose the amazing opportunity that awaits us. God always wants to give us the best of everything and thus if we don’t have it yet, it just means that maybe something even greater awaits us. The lack is often the impetus that allows us to fortify our relationship with God and our faith in Him – bringing out the salvation we wanted all along. Sometimes, God creates situations where is seems like we are lacking, but God is just waiting to give us something even better.

Exercise: Think of something that you really want in your life. Know that if it is good for you, God will give it to you. Think that it’s already yours – you just have to go through the time to get it! All the waiting is so you can get something even greater than you dream of.