Levite service was to be regulated by the appointment of the priest. There was no more room for the exercise of self-will in the service of the Levites than there was in the position of the men of war. All was divinely settled; and this was a signal mercy to all whose hearts were in a right condition. To one whose will was unbroken it might seem a hardship and a most irksome task to be obliged to occupy the same position, or to be engaged in precisely the same line of work. Such an one might sigh for something fresh - some variety in his work. But, on the contrary, where the will was subdued, and the heart adjusted, each one would say, "My path is perfectly plain; I have only to obey." This is ever the business of the true servant. It was pre-eminently so with Him who was the only Perfect Servant that ever trod the earth. He could say, "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." And again, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work."
But there is another fact which claims our attention, in reference to the Levites, and that is, their service had exclusively to do with the tabernacle and its belongings. They had nothing else to do. For a Levite to think of putting his hand to aught beside would have been to deny his calling, to abandon his divinely-appointed work, and to fly in the face of God's commandments.
Just so is it with Christians now. Their exclusive business, their one grand work, their absorbing service, is Christ and His belongings. … A true Levite of old could say, "To me to live is the tabernacle"; and a true Christian now can say, "To me to live is Christ." The grand question, in every matter which may present itself before the Christian, is this, "Can I connect Christ with it?" … It is not a question as to the right or wrong of this or that. No; it is simply a question as to how far it concerns the name and the glory of Christ. This simplifies everything amazingly. It answers a thousand questions, solves a thousand difficulties, and makes the path of the true and earnest Christian as clear as a sunbeam. C. H. Mackintosh.