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Category Archives: Numbers

Numbers 6:22-27

01 Jan

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you
    and protect you.
25 May the Lord smile on you
    and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor
    and give you his peace.’

27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

Numbers 6-22-27

Dear God, I’ve read these verses and heard them sung…gosh, I don’t know how many times. But I don’t know that I’ve ever spent much time with them. Especially 24-26. The actual blessing

  • May the Lord bless you: What does it mean to be blessed by you? Good health? Money? All of my needs met? When I told my children I blessed them I defined it as supporting whatever decisions they felt like they needed to make that was best for them, even if it cost me something. I wanted them to have good lives regardless of what it cost me. I don’t think that is what you mean here. I think I am going to tie this into the last one in the list: peace. There might be some who disagree with me, but I think this is the most precious fruit of the Spirit as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. If I am blessed by you then I have your peace regardless of whatever else is before me. I would love to ask for good health, plenty of money, and even all of my needs and a lot of my wants to be met, but having all of that will not draw me closer to you. Recently, when my wife and I experienced a health scare, it drove us to prayers to you and an appreciation of each other that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.
  • May the Lord protect you: Jesus kind of redefined this when he told us not to worry in the Sermon on the Mount. My worrying cannot add an hour to my life. There were people killed last night in New Orleans, and some of them loved you. Almost all of Jesus’s apostles were martyred. So is that the kind of protection you told Moses about here? I don’t think so. But I can see where you want to protect my heart. You want me to not be lead into temptation, but delivered from evil. I ask for that kind of protection from you.
  • May the Lord smile on you: I almost feel like this one is on me. Will I behave in a way that makes you smile or will I grieve you? I pray that my life will make you smile at least a little more than it grieves you.
  • May the Lord be gracious to you: Oh my, do I need your grace?!? My wife and I were talking about some people we love who have judged us very harshly. And I have been known to judge pretty harshly myself. But I need your grace. And I need to give grace. Graciousness needs to flow from you, through me, and to those I know and even those I don’t know. We all need your grace.
  • May the Lord show you his favor: I know you are on my side. Maybe not in a way that will give me every selfish thing my heart desires, but you want to love me and show me how to love. You want to grow all of the fruit of your Spirit within me and let it flow out of me. That is the favor I want from you. Do I want health for my wife, my children, me, and those I love? Of course. And I’ll take any good fortune you deem appropriate to send my way. But I do not require that to be here and worship you.
  • May the Lord give you his peace: Going back to the first one, this is the biggie for me. Peace. And the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I can fake most of those, but my peace only comes from you. And I must be tied into you to get it. Oh, Lord, especially when I am hurting over sorrows in my life, please help me to have your peace. A peace that passes understanding.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 1, 2025 in Numbers

 

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Numbers 11:24-30

29 Sep

So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.

Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp. A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since his youth, protested, “Moses, my master, make them stop!”

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel.
Numbers 11:24-30

Dear God, I wonder if I could consider this attitude “sibling rivalry.” This is the Old Testament reading for many churches today. The Gospel reading in Mark 9 has the apostle John doing something similar in verse 38 when he tells Jesus he saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’s name and John told him to stop because he wasn’t part of their group. And this is after John witnessed the Transfiguration earlier in Mark 9. It’s also immediately after Jesus got onto the disciples about arguing over who would be the greatest in your kingdom. How could they do this?!?

And of course, this is when I look at myself and think about how I do this. I want to be considered to be the best Christian. I want to be more devout than someone else. I want to be wiser. I want to be more Christlike. I want to be more Godly. Me, me, me. Funny how I was praying yesterday about selfish ambition vs. humble ambition. I think this reveals my selfish heart.

I remember a few weeks ago, I was thinking about a man in our town who is very Godly. He is a humble, gentle spirt. Probably the most gentle man I know. He exudes your wisdom, peace, and presence. For anonymity for anyone reading this, I won’t list his job here, but he is not a church pastor and yet he might be the most Christlike person I know here. The reason I bring him up is because when I thought about him a few weeks ago, and I was thinking about him in this way, I felt a pang of jealousy in me. Now, if I am responding sinfully like Joshua and John, then I guess that at least puts me in good company, but it is still sin. It is still selfish ambition. I want to be known as the best Christian. Sure, I might now want credit for deeds I do, but for who I am, I want to be known as the best. So sad.

Father, I really do appreciate this man. And the most beautiful part about his is that he probably wouldn’t even think of himself in this way. I know he has struggles in his life. I know he is trying to figure out your call on him on a daily basis just like I am. I know he gets confused in difficult situations. I’m not saying he is Jesus. In fact, what I’m saying is that he is absolutely not Jesus, but he is humble enough to know that, pursue you with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and then love others as himself. The fruits of your Spirit exude through him because of this attitude. I repent that I, for even one moment, felt jealous of him. That I had any thoughts of him that were not pure appreciation and admiration. I am sorry for thinking I have to be anything than your child who loves you, worships you, and surrenders his life to you.

I pray all of this through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 29, 2024 in Numbers

 

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Numbers 21:4-9

29 Jun
“Desert Serpents” by Tanja Butler as presented in Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard.

4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Numbers 21:4-9

Dear God, before I get into praying about this passage, I want to just spend some time with this image. Is there anything here I can learn from Tanja Butler’s “Desert Serpents”?

  1. I see Moses holding his staff which is shaped like a shepherd’s crook. Is that right? Were all staffs that way? It’s not important, I suppose, but it reminds me of all of the images of Joseph in the stable with Mary and the baby Jesus that portray Joseph as holding a shepherd’s crook. Why?
  2. The serpents on the ground are mainly black while the serpent on the staff has much more white in it.
  3. Moses has his hand up towards the serpent and he is looking at the serpent.
  4. I’m trying to tell what that is behind Moses. Is it supposed to be a hut? A pile of hay? I’m not sure.
  5. The staff upon which the serpent is mounted looks a bit like a cross as we perceive the Roman crosses to look later in history.

Really, that’s about all that I’m noticing. Bustard points out in his commentary that later in 2 Kings 18:4, the Israelite king breaks destroys this very serpent because the Israelites had turned it into an idol. And of course, Jesus references this serpent in John 3:14-15 when he’s talking to Nicodemus and he compares himself with this life-saving serpent.

I think about human nature and our wont to complain. Our wont to take over our lives ourselves and abandon you. Our wont to only submit to you after we’ve come to the end of ourselves.

I was listening to an interview yesterday with John Dickson, an Australian who was comparing Christianity in the United States with Christianity in Australia 12 years ago. I’ve heard him before. He is where I got the line that Jesus gave us four tools and four tools only to impact our world because they are the only tools he used: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. One comment he made is that now that Christians are a minority in Australia they no longer have the option of political power and enforcing their will on the minority, so they are having to lean into these four tools. His perspective is that even with Christians still in the majority in the U.S., if we don’t limit ourselves to Jesus’s example and continue to push to politically force our will on the rest of the country, we will only hasten our decent into what Australia has become.

Father, the thing I need to be better at is persuasion. I need to first understand why I believe what I believe. I need to not just spout off opinions without thought, but to think through why I believe what I believe and then form those thoughts into coherent, legitimate arguments to persuade my neighbor. And if I lose, then I need to lose well and prepare harder for the next time, both in exploring why I believe what I believe and then articulating it in a good way. So help me to do that. Help me to be the man you need me to be in the lives of others. Help me to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2024 in Numbers, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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Numbers 6:22-27

02 Jan

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you
    and protect you.
25 May the Lord smile on you
    and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor
    and give you his peace.’

27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22-27

Dear God, this was the Old Testament reading on Sunday, New Year’s Day. While I was reading it I thought about wanting to spend some time with it in this setting. When I sat down this morning to do it I thought I would go back and find the video that came out of the UK in 2020 during the pandemic that was quite beautiful with people singing the song in isolation, but combined through technology. When I searched YouTube for it this morning, I found this international version. I was so moved by it after watching it for just a minute, I called my wife in and we ended up holding each other and watching it. I had chills. She cried. There’s is something about watching your creation worship you and do its best to spread your love into the world that is…well, words fail me.

The part of the song when they repeat over and over again, “He is for you, He is for you.” It reminds me of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams’s therapist character repeats to Will, “It’s not your fault.” Will brushes it off at first, but Williams keeps repeating it until it starts to sink in. That’s what this reminds me of.

“He is for you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“No, you don’t. He is for you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“No, you don’t. He is for you.”

“What are you doing?”

“He is for you.”

“Don’t mess with me!”

“He is for you.”

“Don’t do it. Not you!”

“He is for you.”

That’s when it starts to sink in. You are for me. You are for my wife. You are for my children. My parents. My siblings, nieces, and nephews. You are for not only the Americans, but your creation all over the world. You are for me. You are for them. You are for us!

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I pray under your authority that my life would be an extension of you being for your creation. You are my God. Thank you for your blessing. Thank you for keeping me. Thank you for letting your face smile upon me. Thank you for being gracious to me. Thank you for showing me your favor. Thank you for your peace.

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 2, 2023 in Hymns and Songs, Numbers

 

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“So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt” by Keith Green

04 Mar

Dear God, we’ve learned nothing. I’ve learned nothing. Okay, I’ve learned a little, but just a little. I still grumble. I still complain. I’m so sorry.

But lest I skip the clever lyrics to this song, here they are:

“So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt”

So you wanna go back to Egypt
Where it’s warm and secure
Are sorry you bought the one way ticket
When you thought you were sure
You wanted to live in the land of promise
But now it’s getting so hard
Are you sorry you’re out here in the desert
Instead of your own back yard

Eating leaks and onions by the Nile
Ooh what breath for dining out in style
Ooh, my life’s on the skids
Building the pyramids

Well there’s nothing do but travel
And we sure travel a lot
‘Cause it’s hard to keep your feet from moving
When the sand gets so hot
And in the morning it’s manna hotcakes
We snack on manna all day
And we sure had a winner last night for dinner
Flaming manna souffle

Well we once complained for something new to munch
The ground opened up and had some of us for lunch
Ooh, such fire and smoke
Can’t God even take a joke? Huh? NO!

So you wanna to back to Egypt
Where your friends wait for you
You can throw a big party and tell the whole gang
Of what they said was all true
And this Moses acts like a big shot
Who does he think he is?
Well it’s true that God works lots of miracles
But Moses thinks they’re all his

Oh we’re having so much trouble even now
Why’d he get so mad about that c-c-c-cow (that golded calf)
Moses seems rather idle
He just sits around, he just sits around and writes the Bible!

Oh, Moses, put down your pen!
What? Oh no, manna again?

Oh, manna waffles
Manna burgers
Manna bagels
Fillet of manna
Manna patty
BaManna bread!

By Keith & Melody Green

Oh how I used to look down on the Israelites in the Old Testament. What was their problem? Why did they keep disobeying you? Couldn’t they see everything you had done for them? The miracles? Why did they lose their faith? Then I got old enough to recognize the exact same patterns in myself. I am certainly no better. In fact, maybe I’m worse. They were one of hundreds of thousands of Israelites. I am just one of millions of Christians, but at least I have a Bible to teach me. All they had was Moses and the edicts you gave through him.

It’s interesting how Keith and Melody Green capture the Moses resentment in this song. I was looking at Numbers 12 yesterday and reminded of how Miriam and Aaron rebelled against Moses and started by criticizing the wife he chose–presumably Zipporah. But I think there were probably other resentments too. Kind of a “Who made you the boss of me?” situation.

I don’t know where I’m going with all of this except to say that there are certainly things in my life that do not please me right now. There are aspects that I’m unhappy with. However, I feel like you are slowly growing me and stretching me to the point where I am trusting you more and more. I believe you have a destination in mind for me and those I love. I believe it will be good and part of your plan. I just don’t know the road that leads there. I might not survive until they have completed it. I might never know how it happened. That’s okay. I trust you.

I’m going to close with the chorus of a Twila Paris song called “Do I Trust You:” Do I trust you, Lord? Does the river flow? Do I trust you, Lord? Does the north wind blow? You can see my heart. You can read my mind. And you’ve got to know I would rather die than to lose my faith in the one I love. Do I trust you, Lord? Do I trust you?” Yes, Father, I trust you. Help my distrust. I believe. Help my unbelief.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 4, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Numbers

 

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John 3:14-15

14 Sep

14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

John 3:14-15

Dear God, I love this story and the whole context. Nicodemus is earnestly asking Jesus questions that he has, and Jesus is being pretty blunt with him. Of course, the next verse of this passage is possibly the most quoted New Testament verse–John 3:16, but the linking of Jesus’s analogy to the story in Numbers 21 about the Israelites being saved in the wilderness is really poignant.

I remember preaching on these passages a couple of years ago and thinking about the crosses (Protestant churches) or crucifixes (Catholic churches) that churches display in their congregations. There are some churches that even put the cross/crucifix on the top of a staff and carry them through the church. After going through that, it’s caused me to always think about this whenever I see a cross in a church–especially when carried on a staff for everyone to see. I think about how I need you to save me from myself. I need you to rescue me from my sin. I need Jesus and everything he did to free me.

Father, I need you today. I need Jesus’s rescue of me today. I need you to cover me and save me from myself. I can be so myopic in my attitudes. I can fall into self-pity. I can be selfish with my agenda. I can be lazy. I’m sorry for all of it. Be glorified through my life as I submit to you. Help me to completely submit to you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 14, 2021 in John, Numbers

 

Numbers 21:4-9

06 Mar

4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Seac]”>[c] to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
Numbers 21:4-9

Dear God, 16 year and one week ago I left a stable job for the unknown. It was a scary decision, but one I felt literally called by you to make. It started a long hard process and nearly three years of unstable employment and money flow, fear in how I would earn a living, damage to my self-confidence, and strain on my family and my marriage. My wife and I have often said that if we had known how hard the next three years would be we wouldn’t have done it. I am convinced that’s why you keep us ignorant about the future. I came up with a line at the time, “God keeps me on a need-to-know basis, and I very rarely need to know.” I also came up with the line, “There’s a fine line between living by faith and living in denial.”

I think the same can be said of the Israelites. If they had know what was in front of them they might never have left Egypt. But you used those trials to make them stronger and to build their faith, just like you used those trials in 2003-2005 to make me stronger in you and build my faith.

One of the hard things as a parent is to allow your child to struggle through a trial. I remember talking to my dad after all of the unemployments were over and he told me, “You have no idea how hard it was to not just send you money sometimes.” I got that and I appreciate that he didn’t short circuit the lessons you were trying to teach me. Now, as a father of children who are out of the home, it is my turn to find that line between allowing my children to work out their own challenges so that they can grow as adults and in you, and when they need their dad to step in.

Father, thank you that you very rarely let me in on what the future holds. Thank you that you allow us to struggle. Thank you that you do everything just the way you do it. There are times it frustrates me, I must confess, but I can almost always see, in retrospect, what you were doing, and that what you were doing was good.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2018 in Numbers, Uncategorized