Please read Numbers 25-26, and come on back!  

“God spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has stopped my anger against the People of Israel. Because he was as zealous for my honor as I myself am, I didn’t kill all the People of Israel in my zeal. So tell him that I am making a Covenant-of-Peace with him. He and his descendants are joined in a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the People of Israel” (25:10-13 MSG)

Because Phinehas was zealous for God’s honor, God made a covenant of peace with him. Love for God’s word and truth does create peace in our lives! Reminds me of Psalm 119:165, but let’s read it in my familiar NKJV 🙂

Great peace have those who love Your law,
And nothing causes them to stumble

Nothing causes them to stumble, nothing causes them offense.  A great love for God’s word and peace will drive out hate and discord!

Let’s read Numbers chapters 22, 23 and 24 today.  We’re plugging along and doing great!

“Balaam answered Balak’s servants: “Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn’t be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little.” (22:18-19 MSG)

Balaam sets a great example for us – obedience to God is the most important thing.  Even the promise of payment from man (or the threat that payment won’t be made) isn’t worth disobedience – God is our source always. God is always faithful and always honest – we can trust Him completely!

We comes across the crazy story about the talking donkey today (22:22-40) – I always enjoy that one, and an obvious application is that God can speak to us through anything 🙂 I also love Balaam’s prophecy:

“God is not man, one given to lies,
    and not a son of man changing his mind.
Does he speak and not do what he says?
    Does he promise and not come through?” (23:19 MSG)

Does He promise and not come through? Never, my friend.  God can be trusted.

Please read Numbers 19, 20, and 21.  Wow – another big day.  Come on back and let’s visit.  Here’s what I am thinking about this morning:

Yesterday, MANY people were put on notice: they would not enter the promised land because of their disobedience.  Today, we see our leader enter the same circumstance.

God spoke to Moses: “Take the staff. Assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to that rock that’s right in front of them and it will give water. (19:7 MSG)

Easy enough, right?  Maybe not….

Moses took the staff away from God’s presence, as commanded. He and Aaron rounded up the whole congregation in front of the rock. Moses spoke: “Listen, rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?” With that Moses raised his arm and slammed his staff against the rock—once, twice. Water poured out. Congregation and cattle drank. 19:9-11 MSG)

In front of the whole congregation – don’t miss that.  Moses doesn’t speak to the rock – he struck it.  This wasn’t a matter of the outcome – the people still received the water they so desperately needed.  This was a matter of reverence for the Lord.  The people needed that example in addition to the water, maybe more than the water.

God said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me, didn’t treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren’t going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them.” (19:12 MSG)

Because Moses disobeyed, he would not enter the promised land.  However, as you continue with Moses on this journey, please notice this: Moses did not stop leading God’s people, nor did he stop his relationship with God.  Not entering the promised land was a consequence of his own actions.  Moses continued in his purpose of leading the people to their promise, in spite of this consequence.

Consequences are meant to TRAIN us, not STOP us. 

Number 16-18, and head on back.  Let’s visit with each other and with God this morning, learning about His character and His Word together!

“The plague has begun” (16:46 NKJV)

Can you imagine the urgency and fear that phrase struck? After all the complaining and all the rebellion, God has to act.  Moses has to act as well.  He and his brother Aaron pray for the people, and get direction as to how to save as many as possible.

“Aaron grabbed the censer, as directed by Moses, and ran into the midst of the congregation. The plague had already begun. He put burning incense into the censer and atoned for the people. He stood there between the living and the dead and stopped the plague” (16:47-48 MSG)

Aaron literally stood, with his censer in his hand, in between the living and the dead.  Right where he stood – everyone on one side of him, close enough for him to touch, were corpses.  On the other side, close enough to touch, were the relieved faces of the still living. As he and Moses stood and watched, literally seeing people fall in a wave before them, however did Aaron gather the strength to run out there?

God give me such a passion to bring Your presence to my community.

Please read Numbers 14 and 15. Are you finding Numbers easier than Leviticus?  🙂 I hope so!  Here are my thoughts – comment below with one of your own!  

“Now let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly” (14:17 MSG)

Amen. What a prayer – with God, there is always MORE! It’s a comfort that God still stayed with the children of Israel, even after all their grumblings and lack of gratitude and disobedience (and the list goes on – I wasn’t even there, and sometimes I find myself growing weary of them too).

“I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God” (15:41 MSG)

God reveals His purpose again here” He rescued them to be their personal God – and even their own disobedience could not change His plan or alter His character.  God refuses to let us go. Thank You, Lord, for Your great faithfulness!

Please read Numbers chapters 11, 12, and 13.  Busy day!

“The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard” 11:1 MSG

“The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “ ‘Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt—and got it free!—to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here’ ” 11:4-6 MSG

I think we’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: nothing will make you long for the past like a trauma in your present.  Is anyone else thinking this: maybe the food in Egypt were free, but they themselves were not free!  They were slaves.  Would they actually go back to slavery for the sake of a filet o’ fish?

I love how God describes His relationship with Moses:.  With others, He might speak is vision or dreams, but:

“I don’t do it that way with my servant Moses;
    he has the run of my entire house;
I speak to him intimately, in person,
    in plain talk without riddles:
    He ponders the very form of God” (12:7-8 MSG)

For us, the veil has been torn (Mark 15:38) – there is no barrier between us and God because of Jesus’ sacrifice.  If we draw close, He will speak to us plainly too!

Numbers 6, Numbers 10:

The priestly blessing is so beautiful – but let’s read it in a familiar text ❤

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV)

Blessing and keeping, smiles and grace and peace….. God doesn’t only want to bless us and give us peace on our journey with Him – He wants to KEEP us: keep us healthy, keep us close, keep us in relationship…. Everything He does is be in relationship with us, and that is such a comfort.

Here’s another favorite from today:

“they began their march at the command of God” (Numbers 10:13 MSG)

What a great beginning to any journey!

Please read Numbers 4-5, and head on back!  Let’s visit a minute about what we can find in the Word today!

The priests have so many duties and rituals to follow!  Aren’t you thankful that we can enter God’s presence however we are and wherever we are?  God is always ready to receive us as we seek Him with a heart to hear from him! PLUS – Ditto yesterday’s comment 🙂 We have to make allowances for cultural differences.  What never changes is God’s heart toward us.

Please read Numbers 2 and 3, and come on back.  Leviticus and Numbers often get a “bad rap” as being boring or not applicable to us today, but if we dig a little, we’ll find lots of things to benefit us.  Hang in there! Come on back and let’s visit when you are finished with these two chapters.

The children of Israel are being obedient – that’s always good news!

“The People of Israel did everything the way God commanded Moses” (Numbers 2:34 MSG)

I know that the God of the Old Testament can seem harsh to us.  In Numbers 3, we have some assignments (Aaron and his sons are designated as priests, but others who try to elbow in will be put to death Numbers 3:5-10; we review how God killed the firstborn back in Egypt Numbers 3:11-13). We have to make allowances for cultural differences and what was acceptable to society at that time. We also have to view all of His actions through the lens of His character: God is kind, God is generous, God always has our best in His heart.

Did you realize that the Levites were meant as a stand-in for the firstborn sons that were killed in Egypt?  Just a thought – the firstborn sons stood in the gap as priests, to make offerings and sacrifices and atonement for the sins of the people.  It was a firstborn Son how came in the New Testament to stand in the gap for us as a sacrifice and once-and-for-all atonement for our sins.  So grateful for Jesus!

Good morning to you! Please read Leviticus 27 and Numbers 1. Hey – we are finishing Leviticus today!  Another book…. well, “in the books”!  🙂 We are doing great!

I know that making the offerings and vows can seem tedious, but what strikes me every time is how God looks at the heart, not some standard figure that is the same for everyone.  We are individuals, and God deals with us as individuals.  For example:

“If anyone is too poor to pay the stated amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will then set the value for him according to what the person making the vow can afford” (Leviticus 27:8 MSG)

In other words, “here’s the standard amount, but if there is someone who cannot meet it, they are not to be excluded from the blessing of obedience.  Make is accessible for all!”  God’s character never changes – your gift is valuable to him, no matter what it is.  He’s expecting your best, and that releases us from the trap of comparison.

“Pick one man from each tribe who is head of his family to help you. These are the names of the men who will help you…. ” (Numbers 1:4 MSG)

Did you recognize these names?  Sure – we spent a lot of time with them, we read about them before they were even tribes.  Can you believe how the tribes have GROWN? Good time to go back and read the blessings their father spoke over each of them at his deathbed (Genesis 49:1-28).