What's in Numbers? Grumbling

On personality tests, I come out as optimistic and easy going (for the most part). I do have some "lion" in me from the tests with animal names as the categories which means I like being boss at times. For those melancholy/beaver types, I admire your temperments and need your strengths but truly am not wired to relate. Inspite of my natural sunny side, I am tempted to grumble.

The car in front of me is not driving sanely, my friend is not able to find a job and I wonder if God hears, the season of my life causes me to question God as I have multiple weddings to attend this spring without being able to fill in the "and guest" category.

Grrrrumble is the sound we hear from the majority of the Israelites in the book of Numbers. As I mentioned before, there are a number of incidents. The Hebrew word for grumblings means, "murmuring, speaking words of complaint, expressing dissatisfaction, implying a failure of proper relationship and possibly faith" (Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains)

The murmuring comes to a head in chapter 20. The Israelites approach Aaron and Moses with accusations, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!", "Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?"

Like the Israelites, my spirit of grumbling begins with giving in to the temptation to think that "if only" this or that would happen or would not have happened, I'd be able to flourish in the Lord. The other temptation is to give in to fear that God does not have good intentions toward me and that the people around me have the ability to drive my destiny when their choices seem to be causing negative affects.

In stark contrast to the others, Joshua and Caleb are commended in the book of Numbers for their faith in God's purposes and promise in the midst of removing enemies from the Promised Land. I want to be counted among the ranks of those who believe God is constantly in motion and at work in all circumstances for my good and His glory.

What's in Numbers? Guidance

When you think of the Israelites entering the promised land, there are a number of heroes who come to mind- Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb. But whoever recalls Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite? As I resumed digging for treasure in the book of Numbers, I stumbled upon an introduction to this guy Hobab in Chapter 10.

Hobab is Moses' brother-in-law. You may remember that in Exodus 3, after Moses killed the Egyptian, he fled from Pharoah to Midian where he showed kindness to Reuel's daughters. In turn, Reuel invited Moses to live with his family and gave his daughter Zipporah as his wife.

As the account goes, Moses asks Hobab in Numbers 10 to come with the Israelites into the Promised Land. It seems that he had skill in navigating through the wildnerness, knowing where to camp and having the eyes to be on the look out for enemies.

When Moses first asks Hobab, he declines going with them so that he can return to his own relatives. But Moses persuades his bro-in-law to guide them, promising that whatever good the Lord shows Israel will also be shown to Hobab.

I think Hobab is a hero in his own right. He set out on a journey to claim the land even though he was not an Israelite. Hobab exercised faith in the promises of God through Moses. He left behind his relatives and was willing to brave the uncertainty of what might transpire before the land was secured. I had to ask myself, "Am I exercising faith and surrender in the circumstances God has me in today?" More on this in my next posting which is about belief and grumbling. There are a number of incidents in Numbers to choose from.

I also think, as one scholar observes, that God's guidance in our lives does include asking for human help at times. The help may come from a person who is already in our lives or may be someone we seek out because he or she has skill in an area where we need guidance.

I felt prompted to write a note to a friend this week. I have not talked to this person in 13 years. We were friends for a fairly short period of time and then our lives went separate ways. However, I remembered that she has experience in an area where I may need help. I can't say for sure that God is pointing her "to go with me" on my current stretch in the journey of faith. I am praying that God will guide my note to her and her response.

What's in Numbers? Blessing

Here goes my first reflection on treasures from the book of Numbers. After walking through the first 5 chapters about the census, the role of the Levites in worship, how to deal with jealousy on the part of a husband who thinks his wife has potentially been unfaithful (this is serious "summoned to the priest" intervention), and the Nazarite consecration to the Lord, I found myself staring at a small, beautiful clearing on my journey.

That would be Numbers 6:24-27. It's a blessing that God told Moses to relay to Aaron and his sons to speak over Israel. I looked up the word "bless" in my handy Logos software and it offered the following, "speak words invoking divine favor, with the intent that the object will have favorable circumstances or state at a future time". Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament).

I have read this blessing before and also had it spoken over our congregation by the pastor. It caught my attention more than usual because God had impressed on my heart a few months ago through a message I heard to pray this blessing over my loved ones.

I have been calling out to God to add to the favor already on the lives of my loved ones. I love how the Scripture says in Numbers 6:27 to invoke the name of the Lord on the people and that He will bless them. So I have been invoking and believing that God is answering although my faith is tested when circumstances and relationships are tough.

The blessing in Numbers 6:24-26 is written below in the New Living Translation. I am asking the Lord to make Himself known in bold and bodacious ways as we seek Him and His presence. I encourage you to ponder for a moment who you might pray these words over.

May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.

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!