God gave Jesus to be sacrificed for my sins so that I would not have to endure the death that comes with it. I am able to simply work to do the work of God knowing that my debt has been paid for the sins I have and will commit as I am in this world. But even before Jesus, God was given offerings on the behalf of His people.
“14Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. 15And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. 16For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself.” — Numbers 8:14-16 (ESV)
The Levites were given by the Israelite people as offering to God. They were given as a “wave offering” to be used by God for the completion of His work. The “wave offering” was one where the offering, usually meat, was waved before the Lord by the priests and then eaten for their own use. In the verses above, the Levites were the “wave offering” and therefore were for the use of God and Aaron and his sons for their use in the “tent of meeting”. They were offered and accepted instead of the more customary sacrifice.
God was able to use the Levites as opposed to taking of the Israelite first born to serve Him. God had already taken the first born of those in Egypt through the Passover and would not do that again as He was dedicated to His people the Israelites.
God always provides the way for His people. He provided for Abraham with Isaac, He provided for the Israelite people out of Egypt, and now He provided for the “tent of meeting”. God has given time and time again and it is up to me to accept that which He gives.
What have you been given that you may not recognize as a gift from God? Are you looking for the monetary giving from Him? What if you were to look for that which He has given as an alternative to what we deserve and accept that gift?
Trevor's Thoughts 