I just loved reading Numbers 32 about how Moses handled this situation with the people of Gad and Reuben who wanted to stay on the east of the Jordan rather than crossing over.
Moses explained how he felt.
Moses remained calm.
Moses asked questions.
Moses shared his own personal experience.
Moses didn’t hide his faith.
Moses listened with an open mind to the other side of the argument.
And as a result, Moses helped everyone come to a mutually agreeable, God-honoring compromise.
Lord, I want to be a Peace-maker … not a Peace-faker – burying my head in the sand and letting bitterness fester in my heart … not a Peace-breaker – making selfish demands, storming and sulking, spewing angry words like lava. Help me to know when to speak up and when to guard my mouth with a muzzle. Help me to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to be angry. I want to be Your servant, correcting my opponent with gentleness and respect, pursuing peace, being an ambassador for Your kingdom rather than my own.In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, I pray. Amen.
The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
Numbers 27:12-17 ESV
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about godly jealousy – being jealous for the Lord’s honor and affection, rather than your own. Today, reading Moses’s humble response to the Lord’s pronouncement that he would not enter the promised land because of his earlier disobedience, I was again convicted about how often I’m more concerned with my own honor than my Lord’s.
Moses could’ve complained, “Lord, that’s not fair. I’ve worked so hard. I’ve led these people for all these years. I’ve tried my best. Why take away this blessing just because of one little mistake?”
Moses could’ve argued, “Lord, You’re wrong. You have forgotten all the good things I’ve done, all the times that I’ve obeyed. I quit! You can find somebody else to lead these horrible people.”
Moses could’ve made his own suggestions, “Ok, Lord, I get it. I’m awfully old, and I don’t have many years left. Thankfully I have these two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Surely, You will choose one of them to lead the Israelites into this promised land.”
But he didn’t do any of those things. Rather he humbly asks the Lord to “appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” He put into practice the words of Philippians 2:3-4 and so should we.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 ESV
Heavenly Father, I pray that You would make me more like Moses, loving You and loving others, submitting humbly to Your will for me and those I love. Increase my faith. Help me to remember that You are on Your throne, working all things together for good for those who love You and have been called according to Your purposes. Help me to remember that all too often the way that seems right to me is actually the way to death. I want to want what You want because Your way is always the best way. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen
Philippians 2:3-4 Scripture Song by David Talaguit
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.
And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
“We have no food. Well, I mean, this food that You miraculously give us every morning is worthless, and we hate it. Why did you deliver us out of slavery? You’re a mean god. We want to go back home.”
I wish I could say that I can’t relate, but that would be a lie. All too often the thoughts in my head sound all too much like them.
“Father, what are you doing? Why is life so hard? Why did you lead me to this place only to abandon me here? I thought you loved me?”
When the snakes were biting (and killing) the people, the Israelites simply wanted the Lord to take the snakes away.
“Make this pain go away, God! Take it away! Get me out of this desert and put me in the promised land. Now!”
But that’s not what God does. Rather, He sends a Savior, a Rescuer.
He says, “Look up here! Look up at this bronze serpent up here on this pole. Look at it and have faith. Trust Me. Don’t look down at those snakes or that snake bite. Look up here at Me! I love you. Trust Me.”
Jesus referred to this very event when He was explaining to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Him secretly by night, that he must be born again if he wants to enter the kingdom of God.
And 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, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
John 3:14-19 ESV
What happened to the Israelites who didn’t gaze up at that snake on the pole that had been sent by God to save them? They died in their sins.
What happens to people today who don’t turn their eyes to Jesus, the God-Man sent by God to save them? They, too, will die in their sins.
Is that scary? Yes. Yes, it is.
But is God good to provide a way of escape for each of us who are dying in our sin? Yes! Yes, He is!
I’ll end with the words of Jesus from John 6:40, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Heavenly Father, Please draw us to turn our eyes to You. You have already provided a Savior. You have already sent Your son Jesus to pay the price for our sin. Now, Lord, give us the desire and the strength to turn to You instead of turning to ourselves, our circumstances, and other fallen men. Forgive us for our complaining. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Thank You for Your steadfast faithfulness and mercy toward us, a sinful people. We pray for those around us who are running headlong away from Jesus. Draw them to know You. Please, Father. We cry, Holy! Mercy! Save us, Lord! In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Turn your Eyes – Sovereign Grace Music
My YouTube Video about this blog – Come. Pray. Share.
If you read Numbers 2 carefully, you noticed that God specifically told each of these different clans where they were to camp: some to the north, some to the south, some to the east, and some to the west. This pattern is repeated again in Numbers 3, now with the Levites. The Gershonites are to camp to the west of the tabernacle, behind it. They are responsible for guarding the tabernacle itself, the tent and its covering, the screens, hangings, and cords. The Kohathites are to camp to the south of the tabernacle, and they are responsible for protecting the ark, the tables, the lampstands and altars, and all the vessels of the sanctuary. Finally the Merarites are to camp to the north of the tabernacle, and they are responsible for the frames and bars and pillars, the bases and pegs and cords – all that extra heavy stuff.
But what about the front of the tabernacle, the east, the side facing the sunrise? God has a plan and purpose for that place, too. Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s sons are to camp there.
God has ordained for each of these groups, these clans, according to their father’s households, a specific place and purpose.
Though our specific instructions are no longer written out for us in His Word, God still has unique purposes and callings for His children. Ephesians 2:10 is as true today as when it was written 2,000 years ago! “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
God had planned out unique purposes and places for the Levites, and He has unique purposes and places for us, too. We’re not all called to go serve in Asia or Africa or Europe or South America, but some of us are. We’re not all called to homeschool or adopt or teach English, but some of us are. Were not all called to be pastors or pastors’ wives, but some of us are. We’re not all called to translate the Bible into other languages or write children’s Bible study curriculums, but some of us are!
Whatever it is that the Lord is calling you to do, do it. Do it well. Do it whole-heartedly.
Listen carefully and follow fervently. That’s something we’re all called to do!
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the unique callings and purposes that You have placed on each one of our lives. We are members of one body, the body of Jesus Christ, but You have unique places and purposes for each one of us. You are the all-powerful, all-wise God. Help us to listen carefully and follow fervently — for the glory of Your name. It is in the name of Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name, that we pray. Amen.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
At my physical this year my doctor told me that it was time for me to get my first colonoscopy. Friends, I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to be on a liquid diet and tethered to the toilet for 24 hours. I didn’t want to be put under anesthesia and have my bottom examined by strangers. But, it was the right thing to do, so that what was hidden inside me could be exposed and inspected, and whatever stuff needed to be removed could be uncovered.
So, I did it, even though I didn’t want to. And now, looking back, I’m glad I did. Even though it was painful, it was for my good, and not for my harm
Sisters, do you believe that the Bible you are holding in your hands is the very Word of God, that the God who spoke the world into existence and who holds your life and eternity in His Almighty hands is the very God who breathed out the words of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, and Matthew, John, and Hebrews? Do you believe that God’s written Word is as powerful as His spoken Word?
If you do indeed believe that, then take a moment to ponder how that should affect your life.
If God’s spoken word can cause seas and lands to appear, and birds to fly across the sky, then we should trust that God’s written word can cause the dead to be born again. If God’s spoken word can cause soldiers to fall to the ground (John 18:6), then we should trust that God’s written word can convict even the hardest heart and bring them to repentance. If God’s spoken word can change the world, then we should trust that God’s written word can change your heart and life.
Sometimes we’re afraid to go to the doctor because we don’t want to hear the bad news.
Sometimes we refuse to be put under the knife, because we know it’s going to hurt afterwards.
Oh, but friends, just like I’d tell you to go to the dermatologist for that suspicious spot on your nose, I’m telling you to get your nose into the Word. You need it. I need it. We need the double-edged sword of the Word.
Like a scalpel in the hands of an expert surgeon, God’s Word can root out the cancerous diseases of pride and selfishness and sin. God’s Word has pierced my heart time after time. Each time it hurts, but each time it’s good.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us Your Word. It is indeed living and active. It is life-giving and powerful. It reveals truth to me and it pierces my soul. I pray for my sisters who are afraid, who don’t want to read it, who know that they need heart surgery, but are running away in fear. Please remind them of Your goodness and mercy, that You are the perfect physician and judge who wants for their good and not for their harm. Help us to hunger for You and to find You in Your written Word. May we not perish for lack of knowledge while Your Word sits unopened on the shelf. In the name of Jesus, the Living Word we pray, Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Leviticus 11-14
Last Sunday morning, as I was sitting in our church women’s Sunday school class, I was overwhelmed by the deep sense of love and community that I felt from the women gathered there. Earlier that week I had been told that I had a stress fracture in my right foot, and I’d have to use a boot for several weeks until it healed. The women gathered there were all asking about me and listening intently to what I had to say. I found genuinely seen and heard and cared for.
It’s hard to explain, but it’s something I had never experienced before being a part of the body of Christ. These women loved me for just exactly who I was – not some fake, cleaned-up version of myself … but me.
Reading about the Levitical laws for those afflicted with leprosy broke my heart. Listen to these verses and imagine how that must have felt,
“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”
Leviticus 13:45-46 ESV
And now imagine this scene between a leprous man and Jesus.
When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.”
And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:1-3 ESV
He touched him. He could’ve just said the word. He could’ve told him to go wash himself far away in the river … or go roll around in the dust outside the camp … But, no, Jesus touched him. Intentionally.
Jesus didn’t have to worry about becoming unclean. The leprous man’s disease couldn’t contaminate Him – and neither can yours.
Jesus came close to me. He touched me and cleansed me and made me whole. Has He done that for you? He can.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your loving touch and care for me. Thank You for bringing me in from outside the camp, for welcoming me in while I was a stranger, lonely and alone. Thank You for making me a member of Your body, filling me with purpose and meaning and hope for a brighter tomorrow. I pray for the many people in our world who are still living their lives outside the camp. Alone. Please send Christians into their lives to welcome them in and to share the hope of the gospel with them. In the name of Jesus – the Ultimate Welcomer – I pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Levititus 4:1-5:13
The Lord here provides specific directions for how to atone for unintentional sins, sins of ignorance.
This reminded me of so many other passages, like Paul’s beautiful testimony from 1 Timothy 1:12-16
“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
Listen to Jesus’s words when He was being crucified,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34
But what about when you continue willfully in sin? How about those who have heard the gospel again and again and yet they choose to turn their back on God?
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Hebrews 10:26-31
Rather than questioning what God will do with those who have never heard the gospel, we ought to ask ourselves these two questions:
Am I prepared to meet God?
Have I been faithful to share the good news with the people that I know?”
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, I, for one, am not ignorant. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Even when I was darkness, running away from You, You had written Your law on my heart. I knew that it was wrong to lie. I knew that it was wrong to say hateful things about other people. I knew that it was wrong to slander and gossip. I knew it, but I did it anyway. Thank You for saving me while I was yet a sinner. Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place, to be the sacrificial lamb who died outside the camp, who bore my sin and shame. Now let me take this knowledge and share it with others, so that they will not meet You in ignorance. I pray also for those who have heard the truth and have willfully rejected it, who are intentionally running away from You today. Please, Lord, save them! Draw them to Yourself. Send Your Word, Your angels, and Your children into their path. May Your courts be filled with people from every tribe and tongue from around the globe. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the only Name that saves, Amen.
Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Exodus 35:30 – 37:29
Why did God lead Moses to list all these details in His Holy, Inspired Word?
Why do we need to know all about the curtains and the rods and the clasps and the ark and the table for the bread and the table for the incense?
Why do we need all these details about the lampstands and the altar and the basin?
Well, here’s one blessing made more clear by the amount of detail Moses shared:
He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.
Exodus 36:12-13 ESV
The tabernacle was made of all these various unique things, things that were donated and constructed by various unique people, yet the tabernacle was a single whole. God wanted all these golden clasps, wooden frames, silver bases, and blue and purple curtains to fit together perfectly to make the tabernacle a single whole.
The perfect unity of Father-Son-Holy Spirit, One God eternally exists in Three Persons.
There is only one bride of Christ – made of thousands and millions of individual, unique souls coupled together by God’s Holy Spirit and washed in the blood of the One Lamb Jesus Christ to be perfectly one in Him.
The tabernacle was a single whole, made of many parts, and so is the body of Christ. Are you a member of that very special body? If not, what is holding you back?
If so, how then shall you live?
Heavenly Father, Thank You for making me Your bride, for inviting me into this holy union between You, Holy Almighty God, and Your bride. Thank You for the beauty that is found in communing with You. It is a precious, priceless gift of infinite worth. I pray that I would be eager to contribute to the building of this sanctuary – to spend my time, talents, treasures, and testimony for the building up of this body, Your bride. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed– on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” –
Revelation 21:9-14 ESV
“The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Exodus 21:12 ESV — “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:15 ESV — “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:16 ESV — “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:17 ESV — “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:28-29 ESV — “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.”
Exodus 22:19 ESV — “Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.”
Exodus 22:21-24 ESV — “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”
Romans 6:23 ESV — For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 5:24 ESV — Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Death. Death. Death. The wages of sin is death. We deserve death. Jesus, the innocent Lamb, was condemned to death alongside two justly condemned criminals. He paid the price for me. It is finished.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Your holy, innocent, perfect Son to die in my place, to ransom me from my slavery to sin and rescue me out of the death sentence that had justly been charged to my account. All I can say is, Thank You. Thank You for the cross.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Exodus 12:29-50
I love the end of Exodus 12 where the Lord explains to Moses that strangers can join in with the congregation of Israel by choosing to be circumcised. It may not be easy, but it can be done. God has always had a heart for the nations and He always will. Do we?
“If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”” (Exodus 12:48-49 ESV)
Acts 3:25 — You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
Galatians 3:8 — And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
Colossians 3:11 — Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Heavenly Father, I pray for all the nations of the world to know you and to worship at your feet. I pray that you would use each of us to share the gospel with those in our corner of the world and around the world. Make us herald and ambassadors of the good news. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Teach What is Good 
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