February 28 – Numbers 11-13

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 11-13. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

How much faith do you really have in God? Are you willing to trust that what he provides is enough? Are you willing to believe he is strong enough to conquer all that you face in life? Are you willing to really truly make him master of your life? If you call yourself a Christian you have experienced God’s deliverance from sin. You have been rescued from the bondage of slavery this world holds over people. But I wander do we still doubt the power, sovereignty, clout, and muscle of God?

The Israelites did. Over and over again they doubted God. They had experienced him delivering them from the chains of slavery of the Egyptians. Their deliverance was not a run of the mill get up and leave Egypt event. It was witnessing and experiencing the power of God in a huge way. Remember the leprosy covered hand, remember the staff to a snake, remember the water to blood, the ten plagues, the death of the first born, the parting of the Red Sea, bitter water turned good, manna in the mornings, Moses on Mt. Sinai, the construction of the Tabernacle, and the setting apart of Aaron and the Levites. All this and they doubt. And it is not just the average people; Moses brother and sister both have their moments of doubt.

Their doubts cost them severely. God reminds Moses of his power and ability … “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!” Numbers 11:23 NLT. Those who craved meat lost their lives. Miriam and Aaron are rebuked by God, Miriam even being turned unclean for seven days. For the biggest doubt, not trusting God’s power to help them overtake the land … something he promised to do in Leviticus … their punishment is yet to be read.

Friends, having doubts about God can be ok. When we have honest questions where we have a respect filled dialogue with God, I think that’s ok. But when we doubt by casting blame on God, shrugging off his blessings and guidance as not as good as before our salvation, then I think we have entered an area were we are treading on thin ice. What you think? Feel free to share in the comments below.

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February 27 – Numbers 8-10

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 8-10. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

God believed in celebrating. Throughout His Law he gave several celebrations to His people. However, these celebrations were not just times to get down and have a party. These times of celebration were with purpose. They were times to remember something God had done. In our reading today God instructs his people to celebrate the Passover. The Passover reminded the Israelites of the night they left Egypt. The celebration signified that they left in a hurry, that God spared their firstborn sons, and that He delivered them from slavery.

That celebration is still celebrated by the Jewish people today. But it is not only the Jews who celebrate the Passover feast. Each week in churches around the world this feast is celebrated. On the night Jesus was arrested he introduced the communion celebration during the Passover feast. Today, the communion celebration does not signify the release from physical slavery, but it does signify the release from the slavery to sin. Because of Christ death on the cross, because He conquered the grave, and because we can have a life changing relationship with Him, we celebrate the communion meal each week to remember. I am thankful for the time I get to set aside with other believers each week and remember. What about you?

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February 25 – Numbers 7

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 5-6. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Sometimes reading a passage like todays is difficult. I think it is so because a lot of the information that we are given doesn’t really mean a whole lot to us as modern day Gentile readers. I write this because many of us have no ancestry relation to the names listed. However, to the Israelites who this was written for these names have great meaning.

When I lived in North Carolina the church I ministered with dated back to the late 1800’s. The church building had been constructed before the turn of 20^th century. There was so much history that had taken place. My neighbor told me several times how the property the church building sat on was given to the church by an ancestor. Throughout the building were reminders of those who came before who gave out of their hearts to furnish the building and help the church with its purpose and mission. There was pride (not the bad sort of pride, the good sort) in knowing that their family had been involved in helping that church become who she was.

I think the same can be said of our reading today. We may not swell with pride when read this, but there are and were people who did. Each of the twelve’s tribes were represented in the gifts offered as sacrifices. Each of the twelve tribes was able to look at this chapter in numbers and say “we participated in the dedication and purification of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle.” I understand that reading passages like this may be difficult, believe me I labor to get through them myself, but remember we are not the original audience. Oh they serve a purpose for us today, but we are not the people they were written to. To a Jew living after this dedication, this had a completely different meaning. Understanding that will help us to understand the purpose of including this in God’s Word.

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February 25 – Numbers 5-6

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 5-6. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

From time to time it is a good idea to step up your spiritual game. God seemed to think that as well. In our reading today we find God giving instructions on how to do that. In chapters 3 and 4 yesterday, (which I did not comment on, please forgive me) we find God giving instructions for the Levites to serve along with Aaron and his sons as the priestly helpers. While only Levites could serve at the Tabernacle, God did not want to limit service to him by tribe or even gender. He gave the Nazirite vowel to offer increased levels of service to all Israelites.

For a pre specified time period, I guess it was up to each person, they could dedicated themselves to increased spiritual service to God and to take their commitment and fellowship with God to a deeper level. The growth of their hair would be an indication to others of this vowel. The act of sustaining from fermented drink and the fruit of the vine was a spiritual discipline. Keeping away from dead bodies was a purity issue. We know of a few people who the Bible comments on living such a way … the most famous being Sampson. Some believe this was the lifestyle of John the Baptist in the New Testament.

The idea of stepping up your spiritual game should be something all Christians partake of from time to time. But let me caution you with this … do not try to do too much at one time. Take it in small steps so not to overwhelm and to help you become successful. In the past I had all these spiritual goals, but what I found is I wanted to accomplish too many and too much at one time. It’s a growth process. I wanted to get deeper in Bible study, in prayer, in personal worship, and various other areas. I would start off strong but then quickly fail miserably. So last year I set out to do the Bible study end of it. I succeeded. This year I am working on my prayer life. And it is going better. Learn what is going to work best for you as you strive to step up your spiritual game.

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 23 – Numbers 1-2

Today’s reading comes from Numbers 1-2. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today we begin the book of Numbers. This is the fourth book that Moses is responsible for writing. It continues the giving of the Law, taking account of the Israelites who came out of slavery in Egypt and it will be here that we see the spies sent into The Promised Land, punishment for disobedience, as well as witnessing God’s power and majesty.

As we begin the reading we encounter a census of the people. As American’s we participate in a census for our government every ten years. For us it helps align the government with the populations of our country, plus other things. For the Israelites it helped give them order. It tells us not only are there 603,550 fighting men and their leaders, but there are also women and children, and may even be men who are not listed that are too elderly to fight. We are safe to assume this nation is over one million strong in population and possibly even over two million strong.

This census helps to organize the nation into their family clans. In Numbers 2 we see God giving them instructions on how to move about, how to set up camp, and how to divide into fighting groups. I think it teaches us that in the midst of chaos … you try moving one to two million people through the wilderness without chaos happening … that God desires some sort of order. You look at the world he created and it has order. Our natural world functions with order. Our natural world functions as if it has purpose. This can and should be a lesson for us in the way we construct our lives. 

February 22 – Leviticus 26-27

Today’s reading comes from Leviticus 24-25. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today in our reading we find two contrasts. God shares what he will do if they follow him … seasonal life giving rains, constant work because of bountiful harvests, plenty of food, peace in the land, no wild animals, deliverance from enemies, being a fertile people, and God living among them. On the other side, if they do not follow him … punishment, sudden terrors, disease, enemies eating and destroying crops, defeat from enemies, oppression of foreign peoples, disaster, and ultimately hostility from God. Now I do not know about you, but I pick the first one.

Sometimes I wish I could read God’s word as if I did not know what was playing out. I wish I could read it as if I had never read it and it was like a fun new exciting novel. Because if I had read today’s reading that way, I would have been rooting for them to get it, to follow God. Now that might be naivety since we have already seen their sinful nature … complaining to Moses about food, water, and weariness. We have seen them resort back to making a golden calf to worship when Moses disappears on Mt. Sinai. But maybe, in my optimistic mind, they might just get it and follow him.

Would not life be grand for them if they just did what he asked? Unfortunately we are going to in the next several months witness the negative play out because they do not follow him. But here’s the cool thing even in this destruction God does not abandon his covenant with them, he keeps a remnant and prepares the world so that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham … and he said he would in Leviticus 26:40-45 NLT …

““But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me. When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins. Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.

“But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God. For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.”

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