Numbers 25-27 Wrapping Up 40 Years

Standing at the border of the Promised Land, some men of Israel allowed themselves to be tempted by the women of Moab and Midian.  The women invited them innocently enough to their sacrifices to their gods, and the men ate food there and worshiped these gods!  That led them to sin sexually with these women, who worshiped Baal.  God ordered a final cleanup, and 24,000 Israelites died as a result of this sin.  They were about to enter the Promised Land, and He was weeding out the troublemakers.

God ordered a final census before leading them in.  The results would determine the division of the land by families.  To me, the numbers themselves weren’t important.  This fact was:  “Moses and Eleazar counted all the people … Moses and Aaron had counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai, but no one Moses counted on the plains of Moab was IN the FIRST counting … The only two left were Caleb and Joshua.”

They’d all died in the desert as God had promised.  It was almost time to step into the land He’d promised.

Father, these people could have already been enjoying the land for 40 years, but their parents’ sins caused them to have to wait.  I pray that You will keep my heart so attuned to You that my family won’t miss 40 years of blessings.  I love them too much to let that happen.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 22-24 Not Landing On The Wrong Side Of The Fight

Balaam, evidently a man of God and a prophet, was living not with the Israelites, but in Aram, back where Abraham had originally lived.  As the Israelites camped just outside the Promised Land, the king of Moab decided to pay Balaam to intervene and pronounce curses upon the Israelites.  (It sounds like had he done nothing, they would simply have passed through his land on the way to the Promised Land, but Balak had an ego.)

God allow Balaam to go to Balak, but told him to only say what God directed him to say.  As Balaam traveled, it says God became angry that he did travel.  The only way I see to reconcile this is that God foresaw that Balaam might be tempted by Balak’s bribes and disobey.  God sent an angel to block the way.  Balaam couldn’t see the angel (was he spiritually blinded by the thought of bribes) but his donkey could, and the donkey tried three times to not continue on the journey, enduring beatings in the process.  Finally, God enabled the donkey to speak, and Balaam was able to also see the angel.  This reinforced God’s original message that Balaam could only bless Israel and not curse them.

I saw two lessons here:  First, even prophets who hear God clearly are susceptible to spiritual blindness; and second, it’s impossible to fight God and win.  Had Balak accepted that God was leading the Israelites, he could have backed off and suffered no harm.

Father, I think about several issues coming up in the near future where we need to ascertain Your leadership and the direction You would have us take.  Give us Your wisdom from the start, to help us not have to go through the difficulties Balak faced.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 18 -- The Priests & Levites Inherit God

The priests and Levites weren’t going to be receiving any land once God allowed them into the Promised Land.  Instead, He told them, “I will be yours.  Out of all the Israelites, only you will inherit Me.”  Aaron and the priestly line were given all of the unburned portions of the grain, sin, and penalty offerings.  The Levites were to receive the 10% tithe as their pay.  But they were also told to tithe back 10% of that to Aaron and the priestly line as well.  Out of everything they were to receive, God gave them this instruction:  “”And if you always give the best part to the Lord, you will never be guilty.”  They had to make sure to trust that God would provide for them, giving away the very best that He’d given them.

In my Bible’s sidebar today, something really caught my attention.  It said, “To Jesus’ listeners, the heart was the totality of the inner person – the control tower, the cockpit.  The heart was thought of as the seat of character – the origin of desires, affection, perceptions, thoughts, reasoning, imagination, conscience, intentions, purpose, will, and faith.  Thus a proverb admonished, ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.’ … If a person’s actions are evil, it’s not enough to change habits; you have to go deeper.  You have to go to the heart of the problem, which is the problem of the heart.”

Father, thank You for helping me with the condition of my heart.  Like David, I cry out, “Create in me a clean heart.”  I want to start from there, so that my desires, affections, perceptions, thoughts, reasoning, imagination, conscience, intentions, purpose, will and faith will reflect the One who created me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 16-17 The Terrible Cost of Rebelling Against God

When the Israelites heard the news that they’d been consigned to wander the desert for 40 years and would never see the Promised Land, several decided that replacing Moses would fix the situation.  Their initial comment should have raised red flags all over the camp:  “All the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.  So why do you put yourselves above all the people of the Lord?”

In effect, they were saying, “We have not sinned, and we deserve to enter the Promised Land.”

God dealt with the rebellion swiftly.  The families of three men and all their belongings were swallowed up by the earth.  And although Moses prayed for mercy for the rest, God knew their hearts, and He sent down fire from heaven to consume 250 men who’d signed on to the rebellion.  Their families were spared.

Because others remained in the large group who still wished to rebel against the 40-year sentence, God began a terrible sickness that quickly spread.  Moses directed Aaron to quickly take incense into the heart of the sickness to remove the sin from the people.  But before he could do so, 14,700 people died.  Rebellion against God can lead to terrible unintended consequences.

To reaffirm Aaron’s position as high priest, God caused Aaron’s walking stick to grow leaves, bud, blossom, and produce almonds overnight!  What an incredible sight that must have been with the sticks of the other eleven tribal leaders still dead and unchanged!

Father, rebellion against Your will bears terrible costs, and as these verses show, others can suffer greatly because of our rebellion.  I pray that You will help my boys and me never to forget this.  Help us not to cause others to be harmed by any rebellion on our part.  Remind us to love You because You loved us first.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 15 -- A Smell Pleasing To The Lord

God gave instructions for offerings that the Israelites were to make to Him when they entered the land He was giving them.  In other words, “Forty years from now …”

Five times in those instructions, God mentioned that “its smell will be pleasing to the Lord.”  I began to see that the smell that was pleasing to Him was the smell of wholehearted obedience.

God also said, “If the people forget to obey any of these commands”, there was an offering that would also be a smell pleasing to the Lord.  They would remember the command, realize that they’d forgotten to keep it, and repent by making the offering.  There was a very hopeful verse:  “They are forgiven because they didn’t know they were sinning.”  Wow!  They’d been told the command, they forgot it, and God forgives even that when they repent of their sin!

Yet there was also a stern warning:  “Anyone who sins on purpose is against the Lord … That person has turned against the Lord’s Word and has not obeyed His commands … He is guilty.”  No offering was listed that would remove those types of sins.

The sidebar in my Bible noted how God still pointed His people towards the Promised Land even after their rebellion.  He has a purpose.  It spoke of how “created things give cultural Christianity its toehold.  They defeat us and choke the Word.  When we refuse to obey, He will separate us from those created things which dilute our devotion to Him.  If we can’t remain obedient, He will discipline us for our own good…. It is not a sign of hatred, but love.  If He did not love you, He would let you completely self-destruct…. Created things divide our affection from God and become competition to our devotion.” 

The wounds God faithfully inflicts in bringing us back to Him may be the single greatest blessing of our spiritual pilgrimage, it said.

Father, thank You for Your love, Your grace, Your mercy, and Your faithfulness.  Help me to hold on to You when my world seems to be spinning out of control.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 13-14 Being Picked And Failing

God told Moses to send one leader from each tribe to explore the Promised Land.  Moses obeyed and called out the men to be sent.  I suppose that God gave Moses the names of the leaders to send out, for they are listed here.  After exploring the land for 40 days, the men returned and told about the fertility and beauty of the land.  But then ten of the twelve reported that it would be a disaster to attempt an invasion, due to the size and strength of the people inhabiting the land.

Caleb stood up and refuted their report, and he encouraged an invasion, but the men besides Joshua rallied the people against the idea.  That night, they uttered the prophetic phrase:  “We wish we had died in Egypt or in this desert!”

God heard them and said to get ready, because that’s what would happen for their rejection of His plan.  No adjustment was going to be too big for God.  He told Moses, in front of all the people, that He would simple send a terrible sickness to get rid of the complainers, then make an entirely new nation from Moses that would be spiritually stronger than the current one!  How incredible to think that God thought nothing of holding off many generations as Moses’ prospective family grew into a large, strong nation that He’d lead into the land!

Moses was less concerned about the delay and more concerned about what other nations would claim about God – that He’d been unable to deliver on His promise to get the people into the Promised Land.  And that’s most likely what other nations would have said.  He asked God, “Show Your strength now, Lord.  Do what You said … By Your great love, forgive these people’s sin …”  The Lord answered, “I have forgiven them as You asked.”  WOW!  Just like that, He’d forgiven them.  But forgiveness of sin and unwinding of the consequences of it are two very different things.  This wasn’t the first time it had happened.  It was the tenth time, and for God, that was enough.  They’d run past His grace.

Except for Caleb and Joshua, no other people older than 20 would ever enter the Promised Land.  They would get what they’d so rashly wished – they’d die in the desert.  And their children would remain outside the Promised Land one year for every day the spies explored the land.  Yes, God forgave, but they didn’t escape the consequences of their sin.

Father, I think about the men You called out to explore the land.  You had more faith in them that they had in You.  I pray that as I strive to remain in Your will, that You will continue to build up my faith and trust in You, so that I will not shrink from whatever You ask me to do.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Numbers 11 & 12 -- Hopping Back Into The Saddle

Wow, this is the longest I’ve gone without reading God’s word on a daily basis and writing in my journal about it.  The hectic schedule of our trip and the time zone differences really did a number on me.  I’m so glad to finally be back to a normal routine.

Poor Moses was probably feeling like he wanted to get back to any sort of normality as well.  The people had been okay with eating manna God provided each morning, but then they got tired of the routine and complained bitterly that they’d eaten better while in slavery in Egypt.

Moses was feeling overwhelmed – his job looked hopeless and no one was satisfied.  He cried out to God with his honest feelings.  He didn’t know why he had to bear responsibility for all of them and their problems.  He knew he was right in the middle of God’s will, but it sure didn’t feel good.

Now the people were demanding meat.  He’d looked at their resources.  They’d brought livestock out of Egypt, but God had planned that not for food but as starter stock for herds they would establish in the Promised Land.  Killing all of the livestock wouldn’t solve the problem for any length of time and would only create more problems later.

I really took notice of how God answered, because I was beginning to feel the same way before I left on vacation 2 weeks ago.  God said, “Bring me 70 older leaders … I’ll give some of the Spirit in you to them.  They will help you care for the people so that you will not have to care for them alone.”

God also promised the unbelievable – meat for everyone for an entire month.  Moses couldn’t see how God could do the seemingly impossible.  His two observations started with, “If we….” 

He was still only thinking in human terms, not God-terms.  In an unusual reprimand, God said, “Do you think I am weak?  Now you will see if I can do what I say.”  God did what He said with the older leaders – even for two men who didn’t show up.  Joshua wanted only Moses to be able to prophecy.  He was almost a stumbling block rather than a helper.  Moses said, “Are you jealous for me?  I wish all the Lord’s people could prophecy.  I wish the Lord would give His Spirit to all of them.”

The people got what they asked for – quail – 3 feet deep a day’s walk in any direction.  As God said, they had meat running out of their noses.  Sickness and death followed.

Moses’ siblings then decided that they deserved a ruling role.  They began to complain about Moses doing all the leading.  God called them in for a personal audience and told them Moses was His servant, not just a prophet, and they should be afraid to ever gripe like that again.  Miriam was given a skin disease for seven days, while Aaron asked for forgiveness.

Father, I find myself wondering what work will be like today and tomorrow with many decisions awaiting me.  I’ve still been feeling the way Moses felt.  Help me to spread the load.  Equip others to lead in areas as well, or change the circumstances.  I just need You to be God at work and guide me in my work.  Keep frustration at bay.  As usual, Your timing with Your Word for me is impeccable.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford