Devotional thoughts from Numbers

September 5, 2005

Num. 5: Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin.

The book of Numbers is about naming names.  It is also more practical instructions on how this nation of former slaves is now going to function as a People of God.  Reading Numbers is not always the most uplifting reading to be found in the Bible.  In fact, the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy have been the downfall of many a person who has attempted to read the Bible from first to last.  That doesn’t mean there is nothing worth reading here, just that we have to do a little prospecting to find the gold.  This statement from Numbers 5 is a very good example.  Moses explains to the people the true nature of sin – that it is a breaking of trust with God.  It isn’t a mistake, it isn’t human shortcoming – it is behaving in a disloyal way toward God.  Still, there is hope here.  In spite of the guilt, there is the possibility of restoration.  First, the sinner must acknowledge his sin by confessing it.  No excuses – just meeting the issue head on.  Then, restitution is to be made.  True to the nature of the book, a practical approach is outlined: restore what was taken plus 20 percent.  The concept is even expanded to include just who is to receive the compensation in extenuating circumstances.  Living under the New Covenant, I am not bound by the letter of the Law, but the concepts here can be fully applied.  To sin is to break trust with God.  The first step to restoration is to acknowledge sin.  The second is to make things right.  The approach is a bit different, but the concept sounds a whole lot like the Sermon on the Mount.

September 6, 2005

Num. 6: This is how you are to bless the People of Israel.

Progress is being made and it is about time to put the new Tent of Meeting into regular service.  The various sacrifices have been described, along with the duties of those who would serve in this portable worship center.  God has something he wants the priests to say: “God bless you and keep you, God smile on you and gift you, God look you full in the face and make you prosper.”  Note that this isn’t something the priests or even Moses thought up.  God wants this to be said because, he says, “I will confirm it by blessing them.”  I am reminded here that God desires to bless his people.  He wants to keep us, to gift us, and to prosper us.  Now, I could spend time here talking about what all this means – especially, in light of all the “health and wealth” teaching around – but I would rather just be reminded here of the good will God has toward us.  We don’t hear Moses saying, “Tell you what priests, let’s make it our habit to ask God to bless us.”  Instead, here is God, Himself, saying, “I want to bless you and as a reminder of that, here is what I want you to say.”  Thank you, Lord, for not only your blessings, but for your desire to bless.

September 7, 2005

Num. 7: When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, he heard the Voice [of God]…He spoke with him.

A week of offerings of dedication has been made, and now Moses, instead of going up on the mountain to meet with God, enters the Most Holy Place in the new Worship Center.  There above the Covenant Chest, between the golden angels the Voice of God is heard.  I am reminded here of how precious it is to hear God’s Voice.   I know that God is a communicating God – he wants me to hear his voice, in fact, as amazing as it is, he wants to hear my voice too.  For Moses, and the people he led, this encounter was a big deal.  Tell you what, when God speaks to me, it is a big deal too. 

September 8, 2005

Num. 9: They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command.

It was pretty straightforward.  There was this big cloud that even glowed like fire at night.  All they had to do was follow it.  When it moved, they moved.  When it stood still, they stood still.  That’s the one that catches my attention: “stood still.”  I do a lot better job of moving.  I mean, I am a valuable part of the Kingdom of God and I am sure he needs me to be in the game from start to finish – no bench time for me! Well, seriously, I know there is always something else to be done.  I need to take note that when God was leading in such a clear and unmistakable way that sometimes he lead them to stop.  For one thing, that means time out.  God built a day off into the very fabric of Creation.  One day out of seven is a day for the Pillar of Cloud in our lives to stand still.  For another, I realize I don’t listen to God very well when I am on the move.  His Voice is precious, but it is often so quiet that I won’t hear it at all unless I still my life and pay attention.  Every day needs to have times when the Pillar of Cloud stands still for awhile and we focus our attention entirely on the Lord.

September 9, 2005

Num. 11: I'll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them.

It all started over the menu. Manna was boring and they wanted meat, cucumbers and melons, onions and garlic. For Moses this was the breaking moment. He is angry with the people and he is angry with God. In fact, if this is the way it has to be he would just as soon be dead. It sounds a whole lot like burn out to me. People who have performed admirably, through the most difficult of circumstances hit the wall and suddenly some minor problem causes them to crash. The thing is, I think it was Moses' fault. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, told him he couldn't do it all alone back in Exodus 18 and a plan was set up at that time. Then Moses spent time on the mountain with God, the terrible golden calf incident and some other things happened. I don't know this for sure, but it looks like the plan Jethro suggested has dropped by the way and Moses has been back to being "the guy" for everything. If this is so, the result is predictable -- Moses found himself drowning in responsibility. I am reminded that no matter how skillfully I organize things in the beginning and no matter how high the quality of leadership I bring in that, as the leader I must continue to hold the plan in shape. Otherwise, things will unravel, it will all come back to me and I will, once again, be in over my head.

September 10, 2005

Num. 11: Would that all God’s people were prophets.  Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.

There is more going on in Numbers 11 than just Moses needing to organize with some key leaders. God intends to take some of the Spirit he has given Moses and divide it up among those chosen to assist.  When seventy leaders are gathered to initiate this new approach something spiritual happens, and, in ways that cause us to think of the unique events on the Day of Pentecost, there are outward signs of this spiritual event.  A couple of the chosen leaders missed the meeting and out there in the camp they too publicly prophesy.  It is their “disconnected” public display that concerns some.  When word is brought to Moses, he is undisturbed.  It is okay with him for God to place his Spirit on them even though they missed the meeting.  In fact, he wishes all God’s people would be so endowed for service.  Here I see that beyond all the articles in “Leadership Magazine” and beyond all the good advice in “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, and beyond all the important leadership lessons there are to be learned is the fact that God gifts people for leadership.  Leadership in the Kingdom is first, a spiritual act.  Pastors and other church leaders must never forget that.  Our authority is based on God putting his Spirit in us.

September 12, 2005

Num. 12: God overheard their talk.

On the surface it is a family squabble.  It seems that Moses’ brother and sister, Miriam and Aaron, don’t like his wife.  This isn’t especially earthshaking.  There are many in-laws who don’t get along.  But they go public with it, apparently using the fact that Moses was married a non-Israelite to undermine his leadership.  Here we find this chilling sentence: “God overheard their talk.”  In spite of the fact that this passage usually brings a smile to my face – the part about Moses being the most humble man on the face of the earth (get it?  A book traditionally attributed to Moses that supposedly has him describing himself as the most humble man on earth!).  In spite of the smile, this is a deadly serious passage.  God doesn’t like it when people undermine the leadership he has put in place.  The issue here isn’t about disagreeing with leaders and letting them know why.  It is about trying to weaken God-given authority.  In this case, God didn’t like what he heard and acted to shore up his chosen leader’s status by diminishing theirs.  Surely there are times when church leaders need correction – but if they need to be taken down a peg or two, we had better leave that up to God.

September 13, 2005

Num. 13: Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers.  And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.

I would love to come up with some unique, interesting way to talk about this famous statement, but, alas, I think preachers across the centuries have pretty much nailed it.  If you think of yourself as a grasshopper others will do the same.  Grasshopper thinking stops us from even attempting great things, it defeats us before we ever begin.  It is self-fulfilling and God displeasing.  When God gives us his plan, our job is not to evaluate the wisdom of that plan.  Instead, we are to trust him and start working the plan in the assurance that God will provide the ability for us to succeed.  To do otherwise is to see myself as a grasshopper – what Zig Ziggler called, "Stinkin' thinkin'."

September 14, 2005

Num. 14: If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land…just don't rebel against God!…Don't be afraid of them."

Joshua and Caleb – I like those guys!  While everyone else is talking grasshopper talk they are talking faith talk!  They saw all the same things their fellow explorers saw – both the good and the bad, yet while the others are convinced of sure failure, these two gents are trying to rally the troops into action. It isn't that they have looked over the forces of the enemy and then decided that their army is superior. They just believe God has made certain promises to them, he has brought them to this place, and now he commands them to action.  You see Joshua and Caleb aren't especially brave.  In fact, they are down right afraid.  They are afraid, not of giants, but of rebelling against God.  Let's see – giants over here, God over there.  Which one am I most afraid of displeasing?   I'd rather have God on my side against the giants than have giants on my side against God!

September 15, 2005

Num. 14: In this wilderness they will come to their end.  There they will die.

It sounds unfair, doesn't it?  God brings them out of Egypt, he cares for them and leds them to the land he has promised, but when they are afraid of the giants of Canaan he dumps them.  Actually, no.   Here is what is happening, he is giving them their own way.  They don't want to listen to the pleading and encouraging word of Caleb and Joshua, they don't want to follow the lead of Moses, and they don't want to trust God.  So God says, "okay."  If they would prefer to go back into the wilderness he will let them go.  The result will be tragic, as their bones will be scattered across the desert.  But if they insist, he will not stop them.  Even here there is grace.  Manna will continue to fall, their clothes will not wear out, and God will still be their God.  The words quoted above are not a death sentence -- they are a statement of reality.  The Lord will patiently wait until these decision-makers have died off, then he will give the same command and make the same offer to their children.  Passages like this define both free will and grace.  On one hand, God will not force us to obey him.  On the other, he will never stop working in our lives, patiently calling us to himself and his purposes for us.

September 20, 2005

Num. 21: Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.

Have you ever been snake bit?  I am very happy to report that I am not in that number.  Two groups of people have great snake stories: missionaries and plumbers.  Missionaries because of their journeys and plumbers because they crawl under houses in places where snakes like to live.  I seriously doubt that either group would say that encountering snakes is a highlight of their profession.  In the Scripture passage, we find the people angering God by being irritable in spite of his many blessings on them.   In his anger, he sends poisonous snakes that bite people: a death sentence.  Now, there are all kinds of concerns here about our Heavenly Father doing this, and, while I think it is worthy of consideration, something bigger comes to mind.  You see, spiritually speaking I have been snake bit.  The result is that I have been poisoned by sin and the result of that poison is death, just a surely for me as it was for them.  The remedy was the bronze snake on a pole.  When they looked up they found healing -- wholeness.  My hope is looking to another "pole" -- that is, the cross of Jesus.  In him I find, not death, but life.

September 27, 2005

Num. 22: Then God gave speech to the donkey.

There is no other story in the entire Bible like this one.  Balaam is a backslidden prophet of God who is on his way to put a curse on God's people.  His donkey is being stubborn and misbehaving.  As Balaam angrily beats the poor animal, God gives it the power of speech.  This incident has caught the imagination of countless readers.  The movie industry did a series of "Francis the talking mule" stories in the 1940's.  Later on, TV brought us the story of a talking horse, "Mr. Ed."  Then, Don Francisco brought the story to everyone's attention in his song, "Balaam."  The punch line to Francisco's song reminds me that when God uses me to deliver his message that I shouldn't become conceited because he could have used a donkey just as well.  I know this, God is God and he can do whatever he wants.  If it serves his purposes to make an animal speak his words he certainly has the ability and the authority to do so.  And if he commissions me to speak his message I know it isn't because I am such an intelligent, articulate person that I stand out in the crowd.  He calls us and uses us for his own purposes.  Still, for man or donkey, it is an honor to be so called!

September 28, 2005

Num. 35: Don't desecrate the land in which you live.  I live here too….

I have now worked my way through the "numbers" of the book of Numbers.  Numbers of people and cattle and cities -- who lives where and how many days between various worship events.  It isn't exactly riveting reading.  In fact, it would have been easy to miss the pure gold at the end of chapter 35.  The issue there is how the people are to deal with murder.  Due to the fact that the laws God gives the Israelites are foundational to our own legal system; it seems to be pretty common stuff.  Actually though, it is groundbreaking material, reshaping human society.  God insists on justice, and adds that if society takes murder lightly the whole land will be polluted.  Then he adds, "don't desecrate the land where you live -- after all, I live here too."  In spite of the dreary subject, this is a wonderful phrase of hope.  Their Creator, the Sovereign of the Universe, God Almighty says his address is on their street.  These days, because of the Gift of the Holy Spirit, things are even more personal.  God lives, not just "in the land" but "in my heart."  If God's presence in the land emphasized the importance of purity there, how much more does his presence in my life call for purity of heart?