The two and a half tribes did not have a fervent desire to follow God and come to know God. God was not in all their thoughts. Their hearts and minds were fixed on settling down with their families and their cattle.

They were not married to the Lord of Israel, they were married to their livestock.

Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh had managed to make it difficult for themselves to enjoy the most precious aspect of belonging to the nation of Israel—closeness to the Presence of the Lord.

How disappointing to God is such an attitude!

How would you feel if the people whom you loved most were preoccupied with the gifts that you had given them and did not care whether they were close to you or separated from you?—they did not care for you, only for what you could do for them?

What would your response be? Would you begin to look for others who would care about you and not just about what you could give them?

This is the case today. Multitudes of the Lord's people are satisfied with their own spiritual development. They are ready to settle down and make a little nest in the world, enjoying what they think they have attained in Christ to this point. They do not seem to have in them the fierce gladness of the victorious saint, the joy of seeking the Lord and of pressing on to the fullness of the possession of God in Christ.

They do not love God. They do not have a heart to press into marriage to Jesus. They may love the things of God or the things of the churches or what God has done for them. They may desire to go to Heaven to "live in a mansion," and they are afraid of Hell. But they do not love God Himself. They do not love Christ.

Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh did not love God. It is as simple as that. Their cattle were of greater importance. Being close to God's Glory was not as important as their animals.

Many believers are willing to remain at the thirtyfold or the sixtyfold level of fruit bearing. The prospect of pressing further into the death and resurrection of Christ and of helping other people enter the rest of God (for deeper consecration leads naturally to increased service to others) does not appeal to them.

They are "saved" according to the current formula. They are willing to lead a relatively decent moral life and to attend some church meetings. Why not be content with what has been gained thus far?

The love of Christ does not abound in such. The cries of the people who have never heard the name of Jesus fall in vain on their ears.

The infinitely greater tragedy is they do not love the Son of God. They take little pleasure in waiting hopefully and patiently for the precious voice of the Bridegroom. The idea of cleaving in total union to the Lord Jesus, forsaking all others for Him alone, is foreign to them.

To be continued.