What's in Numbers?

When I think about obtaining a seminary degree, I think of having a mind full of grandiose theological conclusions. It's funny though. That's not the way it worked for me when I attended Dallas Theological Seminary. I will say I did learn a lot of very helpful perspective and input on the Bible. However, the most powerful things I learned that I apply on a consistent basis are the most simple and practical. For instance, I had this awesome mentor who taught me how to think about what God is doing in my emotional life through circumstances. I will forever be changed by her friendship and counsel.

One of my professors, prof Hendricks, taught us to use a 5 year Bible study plan so that at the end of it, we have studied all the books of the Bible. So the idea is that you dive in to one book per month (and doubling up for a few months on the smaller ones to make it 60 months or 5 years). Mind you, I don't always make it through the whole book~ think about Deuteronomy or Isaiah.

This is fun because as a new month rolls around, I sneek a peak at my chart to get an idea of where God and I are going for that month. Every now and then, I switch it around because the place where we're going doesn't feel quite right. I don't mean to imply that God's Word is dull, it's just that I feel a need to change to what feels like a more enticing and easier to navigate lane. Anyway, as I turned to my chart for the month of April, it was the book of NUMBERS. Who gets excited about studying Numbers?

One of the first things I did was look at the number of chapters. 36. I am also thinking that there's going to be a lot of going on about geneaologies, details about Israelite guidelines for life, roaming around in the dessert, and so forth. To give you an idea, you may remember that the book begins by the Lord asking Moses to complete a census and then details those clans who were accounted for. Hmmm. . .how to apply this to my life? Well, I do have to say that it did remind me to complete my own census form. But beyond that, I am looking for some personal application and have found a number of them. Pun intended! So I am going to blog a few times on reflections and devotions from the book of Numbers in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!