March 7 – Numbers 28-30

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Numbers 28-30. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

When you give an offering to God how do you view it? ““The Lord said to Moses, “Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food.”  Numbers 28:1-2 NLT. Do you consider your offerings as food for God? God does. The things we give him in our time, our worship, our possessions God views as his food. He views it as worship. Remember he created us to worship him. It is pleasing to him when we offer ourselves to him. Since he does not need the substance of physical food, he thrives off of our offerings to him.

This understanding should shape the way we view the things we give to God and the way we choose to give to him. Remember when you give of your time, your talents, your possessions and simply your life you are feeding God. Is it a pleasing meal or just something you threw together? Meals simply thrown together might feed the stomach, but the pleasing meals are the ones where the flavors have had time to simmer, have had time to come together and form an overly satisfying meal.

Another side note … as we read chapter twenty-nine we saw a lot of sacrifices of animals taking place. Just on one single day two (2) young bulls, one (1) ram, and seven (7) one-year-old male lambs plus the grain offering and liquid offering were given to God. We really see this prescription amplified during the Lord’s Passover. When I read this it tells me there is a lot of death taking place in the animal world of the Israelites. Let me remind you, as I had to remind myself, in our reading yesterday that there were 23,000 Levite males a month old or older counted in the census of chapter twenty-six. These offerings provided much of the food for the Levites and their families. There might be a lot of death but it is being used for two purposes … offerings to God and food for the Levites.

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March 6 – Numbers 26-27

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Numbers 26-27. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Leadership is an incredibly important aspect to any organization. Christian leadership expert and coach John C. Maxwell has several leadership laws he stresses. One of my favorites is his Law of the Lid. The Law of the Lid basically states that no organization will ever rise above its leadership. If the leadership grows the organization can grow. If the leadership stagnates the organization will stagnate. If the leadership struggles the organization will struggle. Constantly the organization will rise up to its leadership and hit what ever lid they have established. Leadership is probably one of the most important aspects of any organization.

Moses understood this. “Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” Numbers 27:15-18 NIV. Moses knew that if no one was in charge that the people would wander aimlessly as they moved into this new land.

God had in mind one man … Joshua. Joshua has been Moses right hand man since leaving Egypt. Joshua is the one who goes up on Mt. Sinai with Moses. Joshua is the first to hear the noise coming from the camp after the golden calf has been made. Joshua along with Caleb were the only two out of the twelve spies that believed God could deliver the Canaanites into their hands. Joshua has aided Moses greatly. The forty years in the wilderness had been a training course for Joshua to assume the leadership of the people once Moses died. What a perfect glimpse into God’s system of training up the next generation of leaders.

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March 5 – Numbers 23-25

Below are my thoughts from the daily reading of the West Side Church of Christ in Lebanon, Ohio. Today’s reading comes from 23-25. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

We learn several lessons from our reading … first, when God is with you nothing our enemies can do will thwart Him, and secondly, for that God wants total devotion from us.

Balak wants desperately for Balaam to bless his people and curse the Israelites. Three times God reveals through Balaam that God is going to continue to be with Jacob and his people the Israelites while he will come against Moab the Israelites cousins from Abraham’s nephew Lot. This angers Balak, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the truth God provides. I know many of you reading are not part of West Side, but especially if you are, let me encourage you to pray that your ministers only speak the truth of God’s word. That when they preach or teach what they share and communicate is only the truth found in scripture. Let me assure you, I strive to only speak what Scripture can support. Please help keep me in check in that!

The story of Balak and Balaam is followed by an account where some of the men of Israel fall sexually into sin with Moabite women. What a contrast. God uses a man named Balaam to give Moab indication that God is going to be with Israel and not Moab. While that is going on, some of God’s people are falling into temptation, and in essence falling into false worship. God’s anger burns against the Israelites. God sends a plague on the people. In the midst of the plague an Israelite takes a Moabite woman into his tent. In righteous zeal for the Lord Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, takes a spear and drives it through both the man and the woman killing them both. God’s wrath was paid and “So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died.” Numbers 25:8-9 NLT.

The Israelites had spent so much time immersed in Egypt and not focusing on God that in a lot of ways they do not truly know God. Their weak faith has been proven over and over. Their weak faith has caused them forty years in the wilderness. God wanted to give them the Promised Land, but they did not deserve it. Their children would inherit it. Their children would inherit it because they would grow up knowing God and having no other option but to trust God in their wandering. This is shown in Phinehas’ actions against a fellow Israelite. Friends … do your best to train your children to trust in the Lord because of the positive examples of faith you set in their lives not the negative like Israel did. Demonstrate what total devotion to the Lord looks like and receive his blessings in a powerful way!

At West Side we are beginning a new prayer partner campaign. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.

March 4 – Numbers 21-22

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 21-22. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

There is so much stuff that happens in today’s reading. We see the Israelites find victory in battle over the Canaanites, we see their patience’s tested and poisonous snakes sent, we see them wandering and traveling though the wilderness, we see them find victory over Sihon and Og, and then we see this really crazy story with a man and his donkey who talks. These were a fun two chapters to read.

While the Israelites are just beginning their forty years in the wilderness, I want to point out and remind us who these nations are that the Israelites are encountering. Last year in my Bible reading I decided to do something nerdy, so I began to chart the names listed in the Bible and who their children were. It has come in handy because now I can quickly look through and find out who belongs to whom. I will try and point these things out along the way as we read. In today and yesterday’s reading we came across these people groups …

1. Edom – Edom are the decedents of Esau, Jacobs older brother whom he took the birth right from.
2. Moab – Moab is the son that Lot’s (Abraham’s Nephew) older daughter had with him after escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah.
3. Amorites – Decedents of Ham – Noah’s second son.
4. Midian – This one is not in here today but just for fun … If you remember when Moses ran from Egypt he winds up in Midian where he finds a Priest of God name Jethro. It is very likely that Jethro’s God is the same God of the Bible. The Midianites are decedents of Abraham through his additional wife Kethurah after Sarah’s death.

At West Side we are beginning a new prayer partner campaign. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.

March 2 – Numbers 16-17

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 16-17. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Are you one to question authority? Do you constantly have something negative to say about those in leadership positions? If so, than today’s reading should scare you. We witnessed the authority and position of both Moses and Aaron severely questioned by a group of Israelites. This made God very angry and it ended with the revolters and their families either being swallowed up by the ground or consumed in fire. God did not want his chosen leadership of Moses to be questioned.

I think it is dangerous for us to constantly be questioning the leadership we have. No matter if it is elders or ministers in the church, elected city officials, school board members, or even the President of the United States, I think it can be dangerous. Now when I say question, I mean to disobey, to cause real turmoil and heartache, to make their job anything but a joy. In our political landscape we elect our officials, and hopefully we elect men and women who are in align with our philosophies. Sometimes though we may not be part of the majority and there is someone serving we have different philosophical ideas with. How do you respond to them? Do you argue against their ideas and direction with positive uplifting discussion? Absolutely! Do you talk with hate and discord towards them. Absolutely NOT!

I think we see the hate and discord too much in our nation right now. Our country is truly divided with completely opposite ideas of what is best for our country. While I have a fundamental philosophical difference with our current President nowhere in me do I have hate for him and his family? Too many Christians I talk with do, and that saddens and upsets me. Whether he was chosen by God to be president, or simply allowed by God to be president, he is the President of the United States. Because of his position, and simply because he is a human being, but most of all, because God is allowing him to be president he deserves my respect. How about yours?

At West Side we are beginning a new prayer partner campaign. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.

February 28 – Numbers 14-15 & Psalm 90

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 14-15 & Psalm 90. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Because we are doing a chronological reading plan … reading the Bible in the order the events played out, not in the order the books and chapters are placed … we are going to be reading from various different books at different times. One way we might do that is like the time when we read the entire book of Job in the middle of Genesis. Other ways might be short little intersessions of different books telling the same story. Today we get something similar. After the punishment of God for the disbelief Moses writes what we consider Psalm 90. For true chronological purposes in our plan Psalm 90 is inserted into our reading for today. Do you see the parallels or the lessons Moses learned and has thus wrote about?

I also found it amazing that Moses had the audacity to try and remind God of who he is and what he has done. His whole argument makes sense … “God I saw the power you delivered us from Egypt with. I know that you were trying to teach the Egyptians, and us, who you are. If you kill off this people and start from me (I think Moses argument in reaction to Numbers 14:12 is acting with the greatest of humility, a lesson we can all learn) then you are going to humiliate your name. And you do not want that do you.” (Paraphrase all mine). But here is the cool lesson; Moses had learned humility and boldness. When God comes to him in the burning bush he asks, “why me, I am not good at speaking.” Now he has the humility and the boldness to correctly speak to God and even change God’s intentions. That can only happen with a life changing relationship with God. How is that developing in your life?

At West Side we are beginning a new prayer partner campaign. We are asking people to join with us in praying daily for West Side. If you would like to join us please click here and subscribe to receive daily emails containing a short prayer request for West Side. We appreciate your partnership.