Ok, I’ve been avoiding the book of Numbers. It isn’t that I think its boring or dull as others have suggested, rather I find Numbers a challenging book to write on. It seems to me that among its pages we find our own story, the story of the human condition full of stumbles and strife. After some careful consideration and prayerful reading and rereading I am ready to jump in with a few thoughts.
First, we get the name Numbers from the Numbering of the Israelites in the first chapters of the book. The numbering and layout of the camp is the same as military camps of that day. Even from the beginning of the book, we see that the path to the promise land is not going to be an easy road, but one filled with battles. That hasn’t changed for us here and now, the path of faith is full of battles. The scriptures teach us..
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
I prefer the Hebrew name for the book of Numbers, Bemidbar or “In the desert”. Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual desert? Dry, wondering if God was there, or if he liked you? Even though he had just done amazing things on behalf of the Israelites, they seem to immediately forget and sink back into fear. The same is true of you and I as well, its part of the human condition. We forget… wait what was I talking about?
Recently, the past three years or so, I’ve taken up the discipline of writing down the stories of what God has been up to in my life. Not for some amazing memoir or anything like that, but simply to keep me from forgetting or trying to explain away what he has done. For example, I’d forget that the first rain of the season came on the day that Gabriel was born, and again the day that Neriyah was born, reminding me that they are a gift and despite the difficulty of their births God was with us. I’d forget how God brought the first mission partners of what would become Radiant Church, to Westminster Lutheran Church of Hope as I was preaching my last sermon. I could go on and on.
I have learned that drinking deeply from the wells of these experiences carry me through the dry desert seasons of life. Numbers is a story of the desert and how forgetful and fickle we are. Will we choose to remember what God has done on our behalf, what God has used us to do in the lives of others, and how he is speaking to us today, so that tomorrow we will have what it takes to walk through the desert? May you be blessed today with a long memory of blessing.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
