Tag Archives: Numbers

Love Wins, March 15, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I’d like to share with you the lectionary from John. I comes from chapter 3:14-21.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (John 3:14-21 NIV)

We draw closer to Easter. Our meditations focus more on the cross, and the day Jesus ushered in the beginning of the end and new creation, the restoration of heaven on earth as at the beginning of God’s beautiful creation. This week’s lectionary included one of the most recognized verses in all the New Testament, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

We use the verse in evangelistic services to win others to the love of Christ. We use it to comfort people in times of crisis. John 3:16 demonstrates the all-inclusive nature of a loving God. He leaves no one out of his love. The verse gives us hope amid overwhelming despair, knowing life exists beyond the few years we spend in these frail fleshly vessels. The promise of eternity for those who believe in Jesus as Messiah, Savior, Lord, and follow him gets us through the difficulties of life in ways that are hard to explain at times. John 3:16 stands as a monumental verse in scripture.

However, we often disassociate the verse from the two that come before it, even though intricately tied together. The preceding verses introduce a story from Numbers that Jesus recalls, and the New Testament writers record only this one time. The story does much to explain the role of the cross as Jesus marches toward his death.

The Israelites grumbled about the steady diet of the manna God gave them as a source of food in the wilderness. God had enough and sent poisonous snakes into the camp that began biting and killing some people. The people approached Moses, admitted their wrong, and asked him to intervene to God on their behalf. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and erect it on a pole in the camp center. Anyone who looked at the serpent would live.

To you and me, that sounds like a pretty silly cure for snakebite. It did to many of them, too, I’m sure. But if you believed God and looked at the pole, you lived. If you didn’t, you died. The difference became so apparent among the people that the serpent became an implement of worship in the Temple that later King Hezekiah destroyed, grinding it into dust, finally ending the practice,

Soon, the political and spiritual leaders prompted by evil forces, unbeknownst to them, would lift Jesus up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Not to cure snakebites, but to cure the sins of those who believed in him once and for all. But it requires believing, just as it required believing for the Israelites in the wilderness. The cross was the culmination of Jesus’ vocation – death, the final task completed. Jesus taking his last breath. A picture of evil winning at six o’clock Friday evening. But that was only the end of the beginning. New creation happened next. The Kingdom came. Heaven and earth met. Jesus, the resurrected King came alive from the tomb and defeated the enemy of humanity. He won.

What we need to understand about John 3:16, then, is God didn’t punish Jesus for our sins as some might think. God gave Jesus as the only one who could live humanity as he intended it. Jesus lived out the vocation God gave Adam, but Adam failed. He gave the vocation to Noah, but Noah failed. Abraham failed. Moses and the Israelites failed. The Israelites looked for a Messiah who would bring them out of exile and looked for God to return to the Temple to dwell there. They never recognized Jesus as the embodiment of God in human form. The Messiah, God, the suffering servant who would fulfill the prophecies in ways unexpected by the political and spiritual leaders corrupted by a broken world.

God gave himself in perfect humanity, in perfect love, to live out the vocation he gave to humans who could not carry out his plan, so he did it himself. He lived a life of love and suffering and sacrifice, bringing heaven to earth in unexpected ways to dwell with us. The interesting word used is not dwell or live with us, but he tabernacled with us, temple words, God coming to meet man words. On earth as in heaven words.

The passage we shared shows us God loves the world like he loves the Israelites. The world lifted his son like Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, but rather than living a few years by viewing the serpent, we can live eternally by believing in the son. God so loved the world he came in the form of humanity to save it.

In the wilderness, believers lived, non-believers died. Both had the same opportunity. Both could look at the serpent if they chose to do so. Believers chose to look at the serpent lifted up on the pole because they believed it could cure them. Non-believers never made an effort and died in their tent. Only one group found life.

The light came into the world. Believers in the light found life. Non-believers remained in darkness and death. Both have the same opportunity. Both can have life, but only one group will receive it. Only those who come out into the light and have their deeds exposed can find forgiveness for their deeds. Only those who believe can find life. Those who do not believe are condemned already because they refuse to come out of their darkness, and like the Israelites who failed to believe in the wilderness and stayed huddled in their tents, the poison will kill them.

Does God desire that we suffer and die in our sins? No. It’s why he came in the first place. He so loved us that he came. He took the world’s sins upon himself. But covenants have two sides. He did the hard part; he died on a Roman cross for us. He asks us to lift up our eyes to the cross and believe in him. Meditate on this short passage this week. What does it mean to you? Let it soak into your soul as you understand what Jesus did for you on the cross that day 2000 years ago.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scriptures are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Learn Patience, September 16, 2019

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it seems the world keeps gravitating to the darker side of things. Our news reports never seem to share the good news, only bad. Our advertisements tell us how we might get better with their products implying we are in a sad state without them. Our bodies are never fit enough, lean enough, young enough, pretty enough, energetic enough, something enough, so there is some product out there that will help that. Well, not really. You just can’t push a button or take a pill and expect to look like whoever you see on the screen. Biology doesn’t work that way.

And the good news doesn’t sell. No one gives the salesman money for a product when he tells you, “Hey, you look great. Why don’t you get some of this miracle stuff that will help you look good.” His commission would be pretty small. Or what newspaper would sell if it only told about the boy scouts helping ladies across the street? Unfortunately, we gobble up the murders, robberies, and rapes, but don’t pay much attention to the bright news in the world. At least, it isn’t advertised very much.

No, we live in a culture and a world that seems to grow darker every day. And it’s really a shame because there are some really good things happening around us if we would open our eyes and see it. In fact, right this moment, I’m performing a minor miracle or two or a dozen. I’m sitting at my MacBook typing notes for this podcast, looking out the back door of my very comfortably conditioned home in San Antonio. Inside my home, it’s 72°. Outside, it already feels like 82°, and it’s not 10:00 yet in the middle of September.

The fact that I can even put the words on paper almost as fast as I can talk is something people 100 years ago would never think possible. Manual typewriters were around then, but not computers, not laptops, not the ability to dictate to a machine and have words appear as you spoke them. It would appear as a miracle to them.

And I’m enjoying my favorite beverage as I’m putting this together. Coffee from my Keurig. It took less than a minute to have a steaming hot cup of coffee in any of dozens of flavors. Go back to that 100-year-old spot again. Fifty cents for that cup of coffee would seem a little outrageous to them, but less than a minute from start to finish for a hot cup of coffee? No way! Impossible. 72° in the house? Words appearing on a screen that looks like paper as soon as you speak them? Madness!

Today though, I tapped my fingers on the counter impatiently waiting for that cup of coffee. I can’t believe it takes a whole minute for that stupid machine to get through the process. And my MacBook makes so many mistakes sometimes misunderstanding my Tennessee-Texas-Georgia-North Carolina-Louisiana-German-all those other places I spent too much time accent. I have to go back through and correct all those mistakes. It takes me five or ten minutes sometimes. And why does my air conditioning fluctuate those three degrees between 70° and 73°? Why can’t it stay a perfect 72° all the time?

And I spent a whole 8 minutes in line at McDonald’s waiting for an order of fries and a milkshake, too. Can you believe it took 8 minutes to get such a small order ready? There was only one person in front of me, so I just don’t understand why it took so long!

We have become so impatient, haven’t we? Fast food. Fast news. Twitter, Snap Chat, Instagram, and whatever the newest stuff to get instant information from our friends. We just can’t wait. Time rushes past, and we don’t think we have time for anything. But then…

There is this verse from Numbers 21 that says: “but the people became impatient on the way.” That starts the story of serpents God let loose in the Israelite camp because of their grumbling and complaining about their wandering in the wilderness, a problem they created themselves because of their disobedience. Remember, God barred the Israelites from the promised land because of their disobedience, just as he banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden because of their disobedience. And because of their griping and whining, serpents came into the camp, and people started to die.

God told Moses to erect a brass serpent on a cross and put where people could see it, and anyone bit by a serpent who looked at that serpent would not die. He did. They did. People didn’t die. The cure worked. Later, Jesus used the narrative imagery to indicate his death and the redemption, the cure for sin, that would come for all who believed in him and his sacrifice for them.

Impatience led to many deaths in Israel’s camp. Impatience leads to all kinds of problems today. We get anxious for no reason. Our impatience gets us in trouble. We stopped projects or rush through them haphazardly because of our impatience. We accept shoddy work instead of excellence because of impatience. We want things now instead of understanding the best most often comes for those that are patient enough to wait.

Instant gratification is the name of the game in our culture. We become more and more like Veruca Salt in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” a selfish, rotten brat who shows her wealthy family no mercy and has absolutely no regard for other people’s property. She wants anything and everything, and she wants it now. But what does it do to us? Veruca Salt lost. The Israelites lost. Impatience causes us to lose much more often than not. We need to stop and take inventory of our emotions every once in a while and make sure we are not acting like Veruca Salt and her compatriots. I need to remember than a minute for a cup of coffee is okay. Eight minutes for a milkshake and fries is really fast compared to a hundred years ago. And spending a few minutes correcting mistakes because of my poor pronunciation is a lot better than trying to read my poor penmanship that would take a lot more time to write by hand.

Why have we become so impatient? Maybe because we think we know so much. Knowledge or I should say information is doubling every 12 months. Before 1900, it doubled every 100 years or so. Some say the volume of information will soon double every 12 hours because of the digital age. Julian Carver of Saragram created an infographic that gives a visual comparison of digital bytes to physical lengths. First, remember that a megabyte is a million bytes, a group of eight zeros and ones used to replicate a letter or number or character in the digital world. A million megabytes equals one terabyte, and a million terabytes equal one exabyte. He shows that if an ant is a megabyte, the diameter of the sun is an exabyte. An exabyte is a million, million megabytes. The total sum of information on the internet today is about five exabytes. So if a megabyte were the length of an ant, the internet would be the diameter of five suns side by side. And that doubles faster than every 12 months.

Or maybe we have become so impatient because we know we move so fast. 100 years ago, cars were still a luxury. Horsepower even meant something to those who heard the term because they used horses routines to pull plows or wagons or to carry loads too heavy for men to bear. Speed, even with the new horseless carriage, didn’t top fifteen or twenty miles per hour. Those speeds only came in short spurts. Now 50 is about the slowest interstate speed in cities and in west Texas 80 to 85 mph speed limits are not unusual.

Then there is that astronomy stuff we learn about in school and on television documentaries. The earth doesn’t stand still either. Depending on where you’re standing, the earth spins at different speeds since the whole thing spins together. Standing at the equator, you’re moving at about 1,037 mph. At my house just north of San Antonio, I’m moving at about 900 mph. The further north or south you go the slower you spin until you get to the poles that take a whole day to turn in a circle. Then we’re traveling around the sun once a year. To make that 584 million mile journey, we are moving at about 66,627 mph through space. But then our whole solar system is moving inside the Milky Way at about 448,000 mph. On top of that, astronomers tell us the Milky Way is on a collision course with its nearest neighbor galaxy at about 157,000 mph.

So in this fast-paced world that keeps spinning at mind-boggling speeds, we need to stop and take a deep breath, pause, and consider God, the creator of the magnificent world in which we live. After all, he put all of this in place so we can survive on this tiny rock hurtling through the vastness of the universe. We need to stop and enjoy its beauty every once in a while and learn patience.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Wandering, October 9, 2017

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Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com ; The Story, Chapter 6, You Version Bible app, days 36 through 42

We continue our journey through God’s Story. We’ve looked at God’s creation of the perfect garden and His desire to walk with us and interact with us in personal, intimate ways. We discovered how our decisions severed that relationship by bringing sin into the world and so God, in His holiness, could not walk in the garden with us anymore because He cannot tolerate sin. We also learned that from the time of that first act of disobedience, God has been working to make a way to restore that perfect relationship with us so that we can once again walk with Him.

We discovered how God uses the most unlikely people to carry out His plan so that no one can claim ownership of that plan. It becomes obvious that only God can be the author of the restoration between God and humanity. He built a special nation through which His plan would come together. He built that nation through Abraham and Sarah and their son, Isaac, born to them at their perfect child bearing ages of 100 and 90 respectively. We saw how God used a slave and prisoner to save His special people and all the other nations of North Africa and the Middle East during a seven year famine that swept that region.

And we learned why God gives us rules so that we can learn to get along with each other. Remember the premise. If we can’t get along with and live with each other, how can we broken, imperfect, selfish, sinful people expect to live with a holy God. Those commands God gave us are not burdensome, gotcha rules and regulations, but rather, the means by which we can live in community with those around us and with God in the center of our community.

So this week, as you read the stories that will come from Numbers and Deuteronomy we will learn something about the Israelites journey in the wilderness. They have escaped from their Egyptian tormentors. Pharaoh’s chariots rest at the bottom of the Sea of Reeds and his army’s bloated bodies float face down in its waters or wash up on the shores. The Israelites have camped out at the foot of Mount Sinai for a year learning about God’s instructions and then God says, “Ok, it’s time to go. Head out to the land I promised you.”

Have you ever headed out on one of those multi-day drive vacation trips? I have to admit, I don’t do those much anymore. When I was younger I took more of them, but I think like me, most people choose to fly rather than spend days in the car to get to their destination these days. Find cheap flights a few months in advance and it’s probably cheaper than the extra days in motel rooms and the gas for the car, right? And certainly better for my back and my psyche.

But when I was a kid, I remember going to Ohio with my parents to visit my grandparents. My dad would sometimes try to make the drive overnight so all of us kids would sleep in the back of the car and not ask THE questions. “Are we there yet?” “How much farther?” “When can we stop to eat?” “What is there to do? I’m bored.” Back then travel was a little different than today. Remember, the first interstate highway wasn’t built until 1954, so by the early sixties many trips still took place on two lane roads. Nashville to Sebring, Ohio was one of those trips.

When it was daylight, the questions started and occasionally my mom or dad’s arm would reach across the front bench seat and swat a leg to let us know it was time to stop whatever it was we were doing. The questions, picking at each other, trying to grab whatever one or the other had. The swat said straighten up, act right, behave yourself. We’ll be at our destination when we get there. Be patient.

Back to God’s story. God told Moses to get going. It was time to leave for their final destination. The promised land awaited. Everyone is thrilled…for a day or two. They complained they needed food. So God sent them manna. Then they complained about the manna. So God gave them quail. But this time God gave them what they wanted. He gave them so much quail that it “came out their nostrils” the Bible says. I’m not sure how much quail that was, but I’m sure I don’t want to find out.

So they complained about the quail. And Aaron and Miriam complain about their brother, Moses! Why is he the leader and not them? He can’t even talk right. Why does he get to go into the tabernacle alone and not them. They want to see God, too. They want to be part of this plan. They have the same blood running through their veins, don’t they? They have the same mother and father as Moses, don’t they? It was Miriam that helped save Moses from being drowned in the Nile after all. This just wasn’t fair! Miriam came away from that argument with leprosy.

Just the year before, these same people were slaves making handmade bricks out of mud and straw for Pharaoh’s buildings. They had a diet of cucumbers and onions. They were beaten by their masters. Pharaoh had all the male babies thrown into the Nile as crocodile snacks. But they thought they were better off there than on their dusty journey through the desert to the promised land described as flowing with milk and honey.

Sounds just like us, doesn’t it? God can do the miraculous for us one moment and then we complain about some minor struggle we have the next moment. He can do the impossible for us and then we question how we will make it through the next day. We lift some prayer request to Him in a study group or prayer circle and then we are amazed when there is an answer to that prayer. We’re just like the Israelites sometimes, aren’t we?

Can I ask you to look back over your life and see how God is working in His upper story to restore His relationship with you? There might be some deserts you’ve gone through. There might be some places where the only thing you had to eat was that plain old manna or you had what you asked for but it was like quail coming out your nose until you just wanted to be rid of it. Maybe you look back and it’s hard to see many places where God worked His miracles because you’re on that dusty road and the winds block your view as if in a sandstorm. Can I challenge you then to remember that we live in the lower story where it is hard to see very far ahead. We only see to the bend in the road and that bend my not be just to the end of our arm. But remember God operates in His upper story and His desire is to bring you into an intimate relationship with Him. He wants more than anything else to walk with you face to face in the perfect garden He has prepared for those who love Him and work according to His purpose.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Warm those cockles (Matthew 18:23-35) April 29, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Jeremiah 27-31

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 18:23-35
Jesus: If you want to understand the kingdom of heaven, think about a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Just as the king began to get his accounts in order, his assistants called his attention to a slave who owed a huge sum to him—what a laborer might make in 500 lifetimes. The slave, maybe an embezzler, had no way to make restitution, so the king ordered that he, his wife, their children, and everything the family owned be sold on the auction block; the proceeds from the slave sale would go toward paying back the king. Upon hearing this judgment, the slave fell down, prostrated himself before the king, and begged for mercy: “Have mercy on me, and I will somehow pay you everything.” The king was moved by the pathos of the situation, so indeed he took pity on the servant, told him to stand up, and then forgave the debt.
But the slave went and found a friend, another slave, who owed him about a hundred days’ wages. “Pay me back that money,” shouted the slave, throttling his friend and shaking him with threats and violence. The slave’s friend fell down prostrate and begged for mercy: “Have mercy on me, and I will somehow pay you everything.” But the first slave cackled and was hard-hearted and refused to hear his friend’s plea. He found a magistrate and had his friend thrown into prison “where,” he said, “you will sit until you can pay me back.” The other servants saw what was going on. They were upset, so they went to the king and told him everything that had happened.
The king summoned the slave, the one who had owed so much money, the one whose debt the king had forgiven. The king was livid. “You slovenly scum,” he said, seething with anger. “You begged me to forgive your debt, and I did. What would be the faithful response to such latitude and generosity? Surely you should have shown the same charity to a friend who was in your debt.”
The king turned over the unmerciful slave to his brigade of torturers, and they had their way with him until he should pay his whole debt. And that is what My Father in heaven will do to you, unless you forgive each of your brothers and each of your sisters from the very cockles of your heart.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus is still in the throes of His fourth sermon. He talked about brothers and sisters in the congregation who needed correction and how to deal with them. Peter asked how many times he had to forgive and Jesus responded with what seemed a ridiculously large number of times. He really says, don’t count, just keep forgiving. Then He gives us this illustration to understand the scope of forgiveness we should have because of the scope of forgiveness we have received.

In our country, we’ve kind of lost all sense of number value in the last couple of generations. With Congress and our states tossing out $1tn budgets in the same way they treat $1,000 price tags, it’s hard to keep up with what all the government numbers mean. Particularly when our leaders don’t tell us what those numbers really mean to our children’s children. We hear the numbers but it doesn’t translate very quickly to us that each of your children and each of my grandchildren (they are 7,5, 4, and not quite 2) owe just under $40,000 each if we all paid our part of the national debt. See, we just don’t understand real numbers any more.

Changing the numbers to something a little more meaningful as “The Voice” does in its translation helps us grab hold of Jesus’ illustration. The king forgave the slaves debt that amounted to more than a laborer (that’s you and me, much more than the slave) could make in 500 lifetimes. Did you get that? The laborer made significantly more than the slave, but it would take 500 lifetimes, not years, but lifetimes, to earn enough to pay off the debt if he gave every penny to the king.

Now you get an idea of the size of the slave’s debt. Jesus gives a clue as to how he could run up such a bill, perhaps he was an embezzler. So not only did he owe the king money, but he was also a criminal. The king had every right to put him in jail and throw away the key. Instead, the king forgave him because the slave asked repentantly.

But when the slave failed to forgive a fellow worker a significantly, 100 day’s pay versus 500 lifetimes pay, the king reacted. So in today’s average market what would that be, just so you get a feel for the numbers? Assuming a person works for 45 years, that’s probably a few years short, but we’ll use that number for this argument. And the average wage for a laborer today is about $25/hour, and the laborer takes two weeks vacation every year. That’s $2,250,000 earned in one lifetime with no overtime, just straight 8 hours a day five days a week. So compare that slave’s debt of $1,125,000,000,000, there’s that trillion dollars we have no concept of as a number. Versus the debt the king’s slave failed to forgive of just $20,000.

I guess he went to the same schools a lot of our kids in the last couple of generations went to. We just don’t understand how gracious God is when He forgives our sins, that $1tn debt when we are so reluctant to forgive those who do petty things against us that irritate us, that $20,000 debt. Can we get ourselves back to school to figure out how different these numbers are again? Can we begin to understand the vast level of love God has for us when He forgives us? Then can we exercise just a little of His great love to share some of that forgiveness with those around us?

Jesus says we must forgive from the very cockles of our heart. Ever heard that expression? It means the ventricles of your heart. You see, when you love someone, it makes your heart beat a little faster, a little harder. It warms your heart. It’s a great expression that came to us from the Latin. Forgive until your heart is warmed. You’ll like it. God promises.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Women have a special place (Numbers 36), Mar 4, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Numbers 36
Set – Numbers 36; Mark 11
Go! – Numbers 34-36; Mark 11

Numbers 36
¹The heads of the extended families traced back to Joseph through Gilead (son of Machir, son of Manasseh) approached Moses, the community’s leaders, and the heads of Israel’s extended families to share their concerns.

Zelophehad’s Family: ² We appreciate and accept that the Eternal One told Moses, my lord, that among the land given by lot to the Israelites, whatever would have gone to Zelophehad (our kinsman) as an inheritance should be passed down to his daughters. ³ The trouble is, if they marry outside of our tribe into another Israelite tribe, their land will go with them. That will reduce the territory designated to our family and increase the other tribe’s inheritance. ⁴ And in the great 50th year, the Sabbath of Sabbath years called the Jubilee of the Israelites, whatever land used to be ours through their connection to our family will certainly revert to whichever tribe they married into. In other words, their inheritance will be forever taken away from the territory that belongs to our extended family.

Moses (to all the Israelites): ⁵ The Eternal has said that these descendants of Joseph are right. ^6-9 In light of it, He has determined that Zelophehad’s daughters should marry whomever they think is best, but they should do so within the clan of their extended family so that their land stays in the family. The same goes for any future Israelite daughters in a similar situation. Let them marry whomever they will, but only within the clan of their father’s extended family. There shouldn’t be any permanent transfer of land from one tribe to another because the territories should be fixed as each tribe’s inheritance for all time.

^10-11 The daughters of Zelophehad didn’t argue or dissent. They obeyed the command of the Eternal One as articulated by Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah each married one of their cousins ¹² from a clan of Manesseh (Joseph’s son). Thus, they and their land stayed within the Manasseh clan.

¹³ These are the directions and instructions the Eternal One gave through Moses to the Israelites before they entered Canaan, as they stood on the Moabite flatlands next to the Jordan River, east of Jericho.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

The possession of land within the territory I promised Abraham was an important part of the covenant with him. Abraham’s descendants didn’t forget this aspect of the covenant. Nor did they forget the levitical rules about the transfer of property I gave them. Many in the ancient societies downplayed the role of women, but I made them equal to men. This story is a reminder of the importance I place on women in society.

Read about it in Genesis. I made woman, not from the same dust I made My other creations, but from the flesh and bone of man. I took a rib from Adam, not a foot or a jawbone, a rib. I meant for the two of them to remain side by side throughout their lives. Yes, I made woman submissive to man’s final decision in matters of leadership, but not without the careful consideration of the wife’s input. A husband and wife, man and woman, are a team…always. Both are equally important to the success of a healthy home.

Any who feel women hold an inferior place in society need only look at the reaction of Jesus or Peter or Paul toward them. Women were part of their entourage. Women held prominent positions in the early church. Women carried the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Women did things and are remembered for things that others would think belong only in the realm of the male population in those days. But not Jesus. Not Paul. Not the leaders of the new faith in Christ who understood the real position of women in My Kingdom.

The daughters of Zelophehad reminded Moses and Moses reminded the rest of the Israelites what I told him about the important place of women held in the Israelite society. Through the centuries since, men have tried to demote women’s place too often. But this story and others within My word serve as a constant remembrances that I hold a special place in My heart for women as well as men. I made them both.

The next time you think one gender or the other holds a higher place, remember the story of Zelophehad’s daughters. I made special provisions for them because of the role I hold for women in My world. Every person had a mother. Every person owes a woman his or her life. They do indeed hold a special place in the world. Never think of them as lesser or inferior. Nor are they greater than men. I intended them to hold an equal place. Man and woman coming together as one flesh to create a family to share My values, My plans, My purpose for them individually and collectively.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

God is in charge (Numbers 17), Feb 25, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Numbers 17
Set – Numbers 17; Mark 4
Go! – Numbers 17-18; Psalms 29; Mark 4

Numbers 17
¹The Eternal One continued.

Eternal One (to Moses): ^2-3 Tell the Israelites that you’ll need twelve staffs—one for each of the extended families. Engrave on each one the respective leader’s name. (Aaron’s name should be on the Levi family’s staff.) ⁴ Bring the staff of each of them into the congregation tent and lay them in front of My tablets of witness with you in the place where I meet you. ⁵ I will indicate the person whom I choose by making his particular staff grow shoots and leaves. This will end once and for all any complaints about your leadership.

^6-7 Moses passed these instructions on to the Israelites, and they all agreed to do it. They each gave their staffs as leaders representing their extended families with Aaron’s staff among them. Then Moses placed them before the Eternal One in the tent of the congregation and before the covenant. ⁸ The next day, when Moses went into the tent where the covenant was kept, it was obvious that Aaron of the Levite family was God’s choice. Aaron’s staff had grown not only little buds, but it had actually flowered and developed fully-ripened almonds. ⁹ Moses carried the staffs out of the Eternal’s presence, showed them to the congregation, and redistributed them to the twelve leaders.

Eternal One (to Moses): ¹⁰ Return Aaron’s staff to the tent and place it in front of the covenant, to serve as a reminder of whom I’ve chosen to lead this people. Let it be a warning to any who would question or undermine your leadership. I have made My choice clear and will kill anyone who persists in challenging it.

¹¹ So Moses returned Aaron’s staff to the tent just as the Eternal told him to do.

Israelites (to Moses): ¹² We’re going to die! We will be destroyed! ¹³ If anyone comes close to the tent where the Eternal One is supposed to meet with us, then he’ll die. Will we all die, then?

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Why would anyone be foolish enough to question My authority? All you need to do is look up at the sky and that should end all questions about who’s in charge. If it’s daytime, ask yourself who can create a sun and keep it in place? Only Me. Who can form the mountains in the distance or keep the oceans within their boundaries? Only Me. Who grow an oak tree from an acorn or a beautiful flower from a tiny seed? Me again. Who makes the rain to water the earth and replenish the streams, rivers, and lakes to nourish the land? That’s Me.

No one can do the things I do, and I do them without even thinking about them. You don’t even think about them because they just happen. I set them in place and they go one day after day and year after year. Like gravity, weather, the seasons, you don’t think about them, they just happen. But how do you think they happen? I put them in place before the world began.

Let there be no question in your mind, I am in control of this world. I hold the ultimate authority over all that happens. Do I let bad things happen? Yes, as a result of the flawed state of humankind. The consequences of sin have changed My creation significantly and everyone alive shares responsibility for the marred state of the world. However, it is still Mine and I will return physically to reclaim it.

The other eleven tribes questioned My decision to put the Levites in charge of leading this new theocracy I formed through My servant, Moses. They should have known I would do something to show My pick. The consequences for those against Me probably seem harsh to you. But in the early days of this fledgling nation, I needed them to understand Moses was the man I put in charge. So I did the spectacular to prove a point. I took a plain staff and let it grow at high speed until it blossomed and bore fruit – overnight. Easy for Me. A first class miracle for all who observed it.

The story is recorded to let you know I chose Moses and Aaron to lead My new nation to the land I promised to give them. It’s also recorded to let you know I’m still in charge. My position hasn’t changed. Take My word for it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

He has a plan for you (Numbers 19:15-23), Feb 21, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Numbers 9:15-23
Set – Numbers 9; Acts 28
Go! – Numbers 8-9; Acts 28

Numbers 9:15-23
¹⁵ When the congregation tent was finally erected and assembled, the cloud of the presence of God covered it and the place where the terms of the covenant were kept. In the dark of night, the presence of God looked like a fire and marked the spot until morning. ¹⁶ And so it continued—cloud cover by day, and something like fiery storm clouds at night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted up, the Israelites would pack up and move, and wherever the cloud stopped, they would settle. ¹⁸ This is how the Eternal One indicated when the Israelites should travel and where they should set up camp. As long as the cloud stayed still over the congregation tent, the Israelites also stayed at their tents. ¹⁹ When the cloud remained many days over the tent, the Israelites stayed there and served the Eternal. ²⁰ When the cloud remained only a few days, they did the same. They always followed the command of the Eternal, whether staying or leaving. ²¹ Sometimes it happened that the cloud remained in place only through the night. So, in the morning, they would get going again. Day or night, in this manner they went as God directed. ²² Whether it was a couple of days or just a month or even longer, however long the cloud covered the tent, the Israelites stayed put; but when it lifted, off they went again. ²³ So it was that the Israelites obeyed God’s command. When the Eternal One indicated that they stop, they stopped; when He directed them to move, they moved. They served Him exactly as God commanded them through Moses.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

I had a plan for the Israelites. I guided them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. I directed them through the wilderness and let them know when and where they were to travel through the movement of that cloud. I remained as a visible presence to them in those early days of the formation of their nation. They needed that visible symbol of my presence to solidify their faith in Me. For forty years they saw the cloud always present before them.

I have a plan for you, too. You won’t see Me in a pillar of fire or a cloud necessarily. You might see me in a newly born baby or in the fresh falling rain. You might see Me in the middle of a storm or during the loss of a loved one. You might understand My plan as you contemplate a single verse or a specific chapter of My word. But I have a plan for you. And that plan will not necessarily lay out in nice neat blocks to give you a pattern for the rest of your life.

You see, My plans for humankind always involve the interaction of one person with another to introduce the lost to My Son for their redemption. So I might use you at a moments notice to be that one to share the message to one of My lost sheep. You might be at just the right place and just the right time to say the right words to make a difference in someone’s life for good. Someone did it for you one day and it’s always right to pay it forward to someone else.

Begin to look around you today for an opportunity to share the message that there is a Savior who died for you and for each and every person on the earth. He died, but He rose again to demonstrate His power over death and the grave and sin. He sacrificed Himself that your sins can be forgiven. It only takes asking in repentance. Letting Him become the Lord of your life. And you can enjoy eternal life with Me.

I have a plan for you just as I did for the Israelites. Follow it and you’ll find eternal rewards ahead.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.