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Numbers 28 ~ Offerings
Okay. First thought of the evening. These guys had a lot of sheep.
Every day they’re told they are to bring two lambs as an offering to God; then on the sabbath, two more in addition to that, then there are monthly offerings, the passover and the ‘Feast of Weeks’ which sounds to me like it’s the harvest celebration.
This is somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 lambs being given in offering every year; not to mention that they still have to feed themselves – probably somewhere around 2 million people. Now this doesn’t sound like much; after all, that’s only about a third of the population of Melbourne, let alone the rest of Australia. These guys, though, were on the move! They’re living as nomads, and driving around I don’t even want to know how many sheep, cattle, camels, and probably other creatures as well.
Even if other kings believed the Israelites were peaceful, I can’t help thinking that they had some logic behind not wanting the Israelites to cross their land. They might not actually eat anything from it, but two million people and however many million sheep, cattle and livestock are going to do some damage no matter how careful they are! The Israelites certainly would have made an impact on the landscape, wherever they were.
You know, it’s sometimes hard to give to God.
I’m not talking necessarily about putting money in the offering bucket at a church meeting; although that’s part of it, I’m talking about just having a generous spirit in the first place.
Whether it’s time, finance, energy, emotion, whatever it might be, sometimes it’s hard to give it to God. Yet here, we see that every day the Israelites were remembering their God, they were giving something to him every day. And in fact, twice a day – one of the lambs was to be sacrificed in the morning and one in the evening.
The Israelites were commanded to, twice a day, stop and give to God; stop and reflect on him.
I will admit that I’m not necessarily as regular as I should be when it comes to spending time with God; to giving to him of my time, my self, my energy, my heart and mind and soul. This passage is challenging me, to spend time – morning and evening – with God. Twice a day to give of who I am, and what I can, to just come to him and say how great he is; how appreciated he is; how awesome and wonderful he is.
Morning and evening.
Numbers 27 ~ Succession
God is just.
That probably sounds a little like stating the obvious, but I just felt the need to point it out. Here in chapter 27 we see the Israelites face a situation that they, once again, weren’t quite sure what to do with. Several times, now, there has been passages where the Israelites have decided they’re not sure how to resolve a situation, so Moses brings it before God. Once again, it happens here.
Israelite society at this stage – actually, pretty much all of civilisation – was a very patriarchal society. Possessions and names were transferred from father to son, through the male line. Suddenly, though, this guy Zelophehad dies and has only daughters.
Now I’m sure there had probably been situations before this where a father had died with no son, but it would seem that this was the first time that the daughters had actually come forward and stated that they deserved the inheritance of their father. These girls may well have been the first recorded feminists! Standing up for their rights as heirs to their father’s property.
God backed them up, too. He actually lays down a set of guidelines for the situation that allows a just and fair determination of who should inherit the property.
Anyway, though…
Second part of the chapter is where Moses finally begins to hand over the reins. We’ve jumped to the end of the story here, it would seem. In chapter 26, the new census was taken advising that everyone had died who left Egypt, save Joshua and Caleb.
So for forty years, or thereabouts, Joshua’s’ been Moses’ right hand man. Now, God, Moses and Eleazar, the priest, all acknowledge that Joshua is the successor to Moses, the next leader fo the Israelite people as they head into the promised land at last.
It’s probably a vital aspect of leadership, I think. Succession.
Without a clear succession, then it’s far to easy for something to die with the person who was leading. Perhaps the biggest example that I can think of would be Alexander the Great; he established perhaps the greatest of all empires recorded in the history of the world. When he died, though, there was no clear succession, instead the empire was divided between his lieutentants, and was never the same again.
God had a succession plan in place, and he and Moses were grooming Joshua for forty years or so, to take the place when the time came.
Numbers 26 ~ Inheritance
So, we started Numbers with a census, and now it’s time for another one.
There’s a lot more detail in this census, which makes it great for geeks like me who get amazed and intrigued wondering just who everyone was, and how the nation all fit together and crazy things like that. Here we get the names of the clans broken down inside each tribe, rather than just a broad number of descendants of each of Jacob’s sons.
The first thing that stands out to me as I’m reading this chapter, is that the number’s actually gone down. I guess it’s to be expected; they’re wandering in the desert, but more importantly, they’ve angered God so many times, it’s probably a miracle that their numbers aren’t even less by this point than they are! Through plagues, earthquakes, fire, snakes and other things, it wouldn’t have been a great surprise if the number had been halved.
God goes on to speak about the inheritance that he has for each of them in the land of Canaan; and how it shall be divvied up by lots between them. Throughout the history of what’s been happening, I wonder whether there were some tribes who caused more grief than others. I wonder if there was reason for God to suggest that one tribe had been better behaved, therefore could have more land, or better land. Still, he makes sure that it’s divvied up evenly and fairly between those who received the inheritance.
I can’t help feeling something standing out to me now as I’m writing this, and reach the passage about the Levites.
All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000. They were not counted along with the other Israelites because they received no inheritance among them.” ~ Numbers 26:62
See, there’s something that I’ve felt God laying on my heart over the past few months, and something I’ve become more comfortable with as those months have gone by. That’s the idea or concept that I might never actually own a home, I might never have the settled life that a lot of people crave; and it doesn’t worry me so much any more. I have to say I’ve struggled, at times, with the idea that some people do live off the generosity of others, and it comes down to the culture that we live in, one that says you can’t get something for nothing, I think.
Still, the best gift we ever received was for nothing.
The Levites were the ones dedicating their lives to the service of God; and in return, they gave up their rights to own property, or have an ordinary job or source of income. They lived on the generosity of the people, through what the Israelites brought to God.
Ultimately, and honestly, I believe that would be the next best freedom we can receive, after the gift of Grace through Jesus. The freedom to live totally in dedication to God; where materialism is not a driving factor.
Finally in this chapter, we see that it’s now at a point where all of the Israelites who came out of Egypt have died, save for Joshua and Caleb. It’s starting to get to the exciting point; it’s almost time to step into their promised land.
Numbers 25 ~ Zeal
I have to admit that this chapter seems a little disjointed and slightly confusing to me.
We start off with the Moabite women seducing Israelite men, causing the Israelite men to start also worshipping Ba’al – or actually its defined here as “the Baal of Peor”. It kind of seems to make sense, in context, given that the previous couple of chapters were all about Balak, the king of Moab, trying to get a curse put on the Israelites. When it didn’t happen, it could be that he suggested that his female priests go out there and invite the Israelite men to their sacrifices.
Just a thought.
This is not a good thing, though. God won’t have any other gods being worshiped alongside him. He tells Moses to bring the leaders of the people and kill them in broad daylight.
Then the story moves on to an Israelite man from the tribe of Simeon.
Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and teh whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ~ Numbers 25:6
So Phinehas, one of the priests, runs both of them through with a spear, and the story continues:
The LORD said to Moses, “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them, because they treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the affair of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed with the plague came as a result of Peor.” ~ Numbers 25:16-18
So was this the Moabites or the Midianites?
Doesn’t matter, because really the ultimate focus is on the Israelites, isn’t it. God doesn’t want us playing the field, he’s about spiritual monogamy.
What I really take out of this chapter, though, is the behaviour of Phinehas. He didn’t hesitate, and God compliments him for it.
These two show up, almost in total defiance. How the plague, Moab and Midian fit together is irrelevant, really, when it comes down to the fact that this guy has basically thrown his defiance back in God’s face. Here are the people, crying out to God for healing, protection and salvation, and this guy flaunts his sin in front of all of them.
Phinehas has nothing to do with it. He must have moved pretty quickly, and runs them both through.
The LORD said to Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away fromt he Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.” ~ Numbers 25:10-11
Looking up zeal on Merriam Webster, the definition is: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something.
So God is also zealous for his own honour. God himself acted quickly, eagerly and ardently for his honour when the Israelites were turning their backs on him so strongly; hence a plague.
In today’s society, I doubt we’re called to go running people through with spears; but what level of zeal do we have for God’s honour? Are we eagerly and ardently pursuing the honour of God? Do we stand for it? Zealotry has, throughout history, become this sign of even going beyond eager and ardent interest; the way we see zealotry these days is almost a single-minded pursuit of something.
This is one of the characteristics I believe God is calling for his army to have once again. Zealotry. I believe God is calling a people to be single-minded in their pursuit of him. Eager in their pursuit of his honour. Fervent in their pursuit of his glory.
Numbers 24 ~ Unavoidable
So, I’ve come to a plan – I’m going to cease doing the little life updates with these blogs on the Bible Journey and just focus each post on the relevant chapter. It should make them shorter, and thus easier to read, as well as more direct and to the point.
I’ll probably still do blog entries, under the Blog category on the menu. Enjoy!
Numbers 24:
Balak still hasn’t got the point.
Here he is, once again taking Balaam to another location and asking him to curse the Israelites.
Something, though, seems to click in Balaam’s head this time. It would appear that even though he’s been blessing the Israelites in the previous two locations Balak took him, he hasn’t necessarily been totally acknowledging God.
Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert. When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him. ~ Numbers 24:1-2
As I read this, something clicked. It almost seems to suggest that Balaam was using sorcery to try and connect to God in the previous two attempts that he had made. This time, though, he just gives up. He’s realised that no matter how much power in the spiritual realm that he can muster, God is still more powerful.
Ultimately, it’s God.
It’s a well-used statement in “church” fellowships, especially in songs, that “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.”
This image here is, to me, a clear example of that. Balaam had access to the spiritual realm, and through that it would seem that God even connected to him and passed on at least the two messages for Balak that were spoken about in chapter 23. However ultimately, Balaam was forced to just give up what he thought was power in the face of God himself.
Ultimately, one day, every knee will bow down before God. One day, every tongue will confess that He is Lord. It doesn’t matter what a person’s purpose is, or what they might be trying to achieve. Every single one of us will one day stand before the Almighty King, and we will be under total compulsion to say that he is Lord. Not because we’re forced to, just because we will not be able to deny that truth.
The main question, then, is when we confess that He is Lord, will we be confessing it confidently, or fearfully?
Numbers 23 ~ Not Our Ways
So, I’m home again.
New Zealand was great. I won’t spend too much time going into many of the details that I missed previously, but I will say that I want to go back.
The short version of the story is that I visited Te Papa – New Zealand’s national museum, in which I learned a great deal about the country’s history; went on a couple of quite fun rides, stood in a ‘house’ and felt what an Earthquake is like, saw a Colossal Squid and viewed an exhibition of Brian Brake’s photography – one of New Zealand’s most well known photographers, and it was easy to see why.
I also caught a ferry (Phaerie, for Claire!) across Cook Strait, met a couple of German tourists as we all braved the cold for the entire trip searching for good photographs. Stayed at a Backpackers hostel in Picton which was a better night than any that I spent at the hotel. The next morning I visited the Edwin Fox Maritime Museum, which is the home of the ninth oldest surviving ship in the world, before flying back to Wellington on a Cessna 208, which I have to say was a rather interesting experience.
The plane was tiny – and the ‘airport’ was nothing more than a shed in a field as you can see! Still, it was a good flight back, and quite fun.
That afternoon I did a Lord of the Rings tour – and was probably blessed in that the stop at the Weta Cave didn’t have too much in the way of LOTR Merchandise to buy. As it was I had to force myself not to fork out far too much money for a One Ring (My precious)!
Arise Church in Wellington on Sunday, and then home again! More about church later, I guess.
Numbers 23:
I really like this story, apart from the early stages of Balaam and his donkey, there’s a few things that are really well demonstrated in this chapter.
So, Balaam finally meets up with Balak, the king of Moab, and he’s warned the king that he can only actually tell him what God says. Balaam tells Balak to build seven altars, and sacrifice seven bulls; which he does. While Balak’s standing beside the altars, Balaam goes up to a mountain and has a chat with God; and God sends him back with a message.
To bless the Israelites.
Balak, quite understandably, is a bit perturbed about this. Instead of listening, though, he goes off and does it again – only to find the same result.
There’s a couple of things that stand out to me in this.
First of all, even though God’s chosen the Israelites as his people at this point, his relationship wasn’t totally closed off to the rest of the world. Here’s Balaam, who’s into divination and cursing people – and it would seem, has been making a good living off it to date too. He must have had a good reputation to be called upon by the king.
Even though Balaam came to him with the word of God, though, Balak ignored it and instead tried to circumvent it by trying from a different angle.
It doesn’t matter how much we try to circumvent God, though. Ultimately he’s the one with the trump cards, with all the power and authority and strength.
I heard a story this Sunday, after church, about a church pastor in America. Allow me to first acknowledge that this is a story coming third or fourth hand. Apparently this pastor was preaching a sermon, and there was one man in the service whose gaze never left the preacher, and he remained intent on him the whole sermon. At the end of the message, the preacher performed an altar call, and this young man came forward. He had been sent there to kill the preacher, but in the middle of the sermon, when he had tried to stand up so that he could shoot this pastor, he couldn’t move, he was paralyzed and forced to hear the entire sermon. At the end of it, he gave his life over to God.
I’m going to admit to something. I don’t think God’s a vending machine or a man behind a curtain pulling levers and pushing buttons. I don’t think God’s sitting in heaven moving us all around, pushing us back and forth like some mega chess game. I think that on the whole, he respects and honours his gift of free will to us. I do, though, also truly believe that he does intervene when it’s necessary.
When it comes to the important moments, our ways aren’t going to cut it.
Numbers 22 ~ Lessons from a Donkey
Thursday.
I have one day of work left in Wellington, and then my obligatory time here is done. 8:30 until 5PM tomorrow and then I’m free for the next 46 hours before coming back home again.
I’m terrible at doing this, focussing on the end of the trip too soon. So I’ll stop.
Tonight I went to Te Papa Museum, the National Museum here in Wellington; and I have to say it was quite an experience. They have these rides, for a start, where you get to experience a variety of more exciting sports and adventures while sitting on a seat that throws you around. They also have another one that’s an underwater expedition to Brothers Volcano in the Pacific Ocean; an underwater volcano on the fault line that runs between the Australia plate and the Pacific plate.
I actually learned quite a lot about the Maori people, New Zealand’s history and things like this while I was walking through the museum, it was great. I just hope some of it sticks!
Photography was allowed, so I managed to get a whole heap more photos from the evening. Walked back to the hotel along the waterfront and got a few more photos in the fading light from there too. All in all, another nice day.
Numbers 22:
One of the lesser favourites when it comes to bible stories, is that of Balaam and his donkey.
I like this story, it’s cute, but when we look at it there’s a few things to bring out of it.
The first thing that I noticed, was that while God had chosen the Israelites as his people, as those he would dwell amongst – he evidently wasn’t exclusive toward them. Here’s Balaam, who God speaks directly to.
However I do notice that suddenly God is referred to as God. Whenever he speaks to Moses or the Israelites, it seems to be consistently, “The LORD” speaking to them; yet here, with Balaam, it’s suddenly God. I can’t help feeling like there’s a point there. I know that when it came to God, using ‘the Name’ was forbidden, so perhaps this is a literary technique that separates, again, the relationship between God and and the Israelites, and God and others?
This is all speculation, obviously.
Balaam gets sent for, though, to curse the Israelites, by Balak, king of Moab. After consulting with God, though, Balaam says no.
And as kings seem wont to do, Balak doesn’t like this so he sends for Balaam again. This time, God says that he can go with the men, but seemingly changes his mind the next day.
I can’t help thinking there’s something more to the story. Perhaps Balaam got caught up in the rewards being offered by Balak, and so when God said to go, he figured he could get away with whatever he wanted, even though he’d been told to keep his ears on God and say only what he was told to say. The reason I think there’s something more, is because suddenly God’s mad at him, and an angel keeps standing in front of them as they make their way to Moab.
So Balaam beats him.
Then the donkey turns to him and asks why.
I don’t know about you, but I’d stop what I was doing pretty quickly if a donkey spoke to me.
When we start to venture off the path that God has for us, he does tend to put roadblocks up for us. Sometimes it’s actually really hard to continue on and walk further away from him; but with persistence, we can do it. In those instances, nothing is going to end up turning us back onto the right path, and that’s when we really have walked away from God.
But he does try to stop us.
Numbers 21 ~ History
So, tonight’s adventures in Wellington involved a journey to Lower Hutt.
Dave Strassman, the comedian and ventriloquist did a show here in Wellington which I have on DVD, and makes a joke about Lower Hutt, so while I was here I just had to make sure that I got down there and had a look at it. Hutt City is actually quite a pleasant little place. It has a nice river running through it, clean streets, and some wonderful parkland.
That’s actually one thing that I’ve noticed about New Zealand – at least, Wellington region anyway – they really like the presentation. There’s a lot of parkland around, lots of greenery and places to just walk and relax.
Tonight I got pizza, and sat under a tree on this nice lawn area and just relaxed for a while, before walking from Lower Hutt to Petone. It was a nice long walk, and then walked along Petone beach, too, and out along the jetty they have there. Got some good photos on the way and along the beach and jetty too.
The thing about walking and catching buses is that you get to see a lot of the scenery – often times, things that you probably wouldn’t see otherwise. I was sitting on the bus coming back to Wellington from Petone, and realised just how much the landscape reminded me of Hong Kong. We were on a motorway, the water on one side of us, only about twenty metres away, if that; and on the other side of the road were these extraordinarily steep mountains, just covered in greenery, it’s absolutely beautiful.
Anyway, though. Two more days of work and then another day and a half in NZ before I head home on Sunday.
Numbers 21:
And so start the battles.
Queue my excitement.
This is the stuff that I love reading about, the battles, the wars, the excitement. This is where I can let my imagination run wild with stories of warriors cutting down dozens of enemies. The Israelites are wandering about, enjoying their long journey that they’re only just starting out on, when this guy, the king of Arad, from the Negev, decides to send out his entire army to take them out. The Israelites cry out to God, he backs them up, and they destroy everyone. This king’s name isn’t even remembered any more, he was only the King of Arad, but his name is lost.
Well, it would seem so from this passage anyway.
Then, the next couple of verses, the Israelites get impatient and once again revert back to the same lines that they’ve used over and over again already. Why should they die in the desert, they were better off in Egypt, blah blah, woof woof. There really is very seldom anything original to our complaints, is there?
This time, its vipers; and Moses has to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, then anyone bitten by a snake manages to live if they look at it.
Funnily enough, I remember being told several years ago that this symbols is still used today. The idea of a snake wrapped around a pole is still used in some health services and ambulance services. Quite astonishing, really.
Then we finally get into the part that really intrigues me. First of all we’re reading about the Israelites wandering the border of Moab and the land of the Amorites – and there’s reference to the “Book of the Wars of the LORD”. What a book that would be to find. When I get back home I must look this up because it sounds interesting. I wonder if it still exists.
Tbhen we come to the Amorites actually attacking the Israelites. Again, the Israelites ask permission to walk through his land, stipulating that they will remain on the main road, and not actually take anything from the land, but he doesn’t believe them and marches his army out against them. The Israelites defeat him and take over the land of the Amorites, inhabiting their cities etcetera.
Which of course begs the question, how come they kept wandering? I’m keen to see how the rest of this story pans out. I don’t think I have ever actually read the entire story of the Israelites wandering in the desert.
Numbers 20 ~ Two Strikes
So, one of the favourite comments that I’ve heard from people here in Wellington since I got here, is that “you can’t beat Wellington on a good day.”
Well first, obviously they’ve never been to Perth.
Second, it’s a bit like claiming that nothing can beat the Loch Ness Monster. It can’t be proven unless you actually find the Loch Ness Monster, so if it’s always just a mythical dream, then of course the statement’s never going to be proven false!
I got caught in the rain tonight, and got drenched.
To be fair, though, yesterday was a good day. The sun was out all day, I got to enjoy a nice walk along the waterfront with one of my colleagues from New Zealand, who was nice enough to talk and guide me through a lot of the places around here, and actually, yes, Wellington really is a nice city. Maybe not ‘unbeatable’ but definitely a nice place to visit.
It’s kind of like someone grabbed Melbourne, and squished it into Hobart proportions. You lose a lot, therefore, of what Melbourne would have, but the culture, the flavour, those kinds of things, they’re still here.
Last night, also, since it was nice, I rode the Wellington Cable Car to the top of the botanical gardens, and then enjoyed a beautiful walk through the gardens back down to the city. It was a very pleasant experience. I met these four people from Chile on the cable car, two actually live here in Wellington and the other two were filming a TV show about people from Chile who now live in New Zealand.
I love meeting people.
Numbers 20:
This is a pretty major chapter for Moses and his family. Miriam dies, she gets a small one-line obituary in verse one; and also Aaron dies at the end of the chapter, his death is a little more informative.
Can you imagine being in his position? You’re marching up this hill with your brother and son, knowing that this is the end. It’s time for you to hand over the mantle of leadership to your son, and you know that you’re not coming back. I can’t imagine what I would be thinking in Aaron’s position as I walked up the mountain.
But to go back to the beginning of the chapter…
I started reading this, and threw my hands up in disgust saying, “AGAIN?!” When the Israelites started whining and complaining. I hope that there was a lot more time between these events in reality than there is between them as I read them, because it’s just now getting to the point of frustrating.
But it’s funny, it happens to us too. I mean, reacted with, “Again?!” when I started reading this, but then it didn’t take long for God to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to look at my own life.
How often do we end up coming back to the same spot, it might be a different circumstance, or a different situation but the way we react to it is the same.
The Israelites aren’t growing, they’re not ready to enter the promised land. Really, they’re not even ready to be a nation, which is demonstrated in the next chapter. They still aren’t in that position of faith to just decide to go, and trust in God to get them through it. Israel politely asks Edom for passage through their land, and when Edom rejects them, Israel meekly turns tail and goes the other way.
We need to get into a position of faith, a position of confidence in God to enter the promised land. We need to stop whining about the struggles in our lives, and instead trust God, and believe in him, because when we believe – really, truly believe in our hearts – that God’s got our backs?
Nothing is impossible.
In God is victory.
Numbers 19 ~ Purification
Greetings!
Coming to you tonight, and for the next week from Wellington, New Zealand!
So, I arrived here yesterday, around 2:30 in the afternoon. The trip over was fairly smooth, and whilst the Captain warned us about a bumpy landing into Wellington because of some fairly hefty crosswinds, it really wasn’t that bad. I’ve certainly experienced worse landings, anyway.
So far, Wellington’s been treating me wonderfully, too. I went to church last night – eventually, anyway. Before I came here I did a Google search and found two churches that interested me, and made the decision to go to one on Sunday evening. I walked down there, got there around 5:45 and it was empty, so I left, figuring something was up since I couldn’t see a church still having the doors locked 15 minutes before the service starts.
So I looked up the other one, and it started at 5PM, so I was already running really late, but it was at a theatre that I’d already walked past, with people standing out the front in bright red t-shirts saying “ASK ME” – well, I almost asked on the way but had been determined to get to where I was going. Maybe I should have just asked then. I wasn’t that late, though, I missed praise and worship but caught the start of the sermon. An hour of praise and worship is good, so I’m slightly disappointed at missing it.
Still, I met a bunch of people, played pool for a few hours, made some plans for the week and things like that. So far, it was good.
My limit on these intro posts, I’ve decided, will be around 250 words, and I’m past that, so Monday’s adventures will have to wait.
Numbers 19:
This chapter was quite interesting. It’s entitled “The Water of Cleansing” and is all about a heifer that was sacrificed in a particular way, and then the ashes stored at a clean location away from the camp.
Dear England: Read this – the ashes should be stored at a clean location away from the camp. Move them from Lords to the MCG.!
So we’re going back to the laws about ceremonial cleanliness from dead bodies. There’s a bit of an element within some of these books that suggests the historical oral telling meant that things sometimes got a bit jumbled up. However, at the same time, I wonder what else is going on here.
These laws that we’re learning now came after the adventure into Canaan. God gave Moses and the Israelites the law at Mt Sinai, and then sent them on their way. Now, they’ve been – well, basically unbelieving cowards – and they’ve been told they’ll have to wander in the desert until this entire generation passes away. From there, they’ve gone through the leadership challenge, and now we’re at a point where there are now some additional offerings that need to take place.
I remember, one of the most profound insights that God gave me whilst I’ve been doing this journey through the bible, was about Abrahan, Ishmael and Isaac. God showed me about how, even when we stuff up, he maintains his ultimate plan for our lives.
This is the case here, too. The Israelites have messed up royally, and God would have, from a human perspective, every right at this point to basically decide that it’s not worth his effort, and just leave them to their own devices.
He doesn’t, though.
God still remembers his promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. He still remembers that there’s a covenant in play here.
There are, though, also consequences for the way the Israelites have acted.
When we stuff up, God doesn’t forget us. He doesn’t turn his back on us. He doesn’t abandon us. What God does, is begins to guide us back towards the path we’re meant to be on. The trouble is, though, that it’s not an instant fix. When we turn our back on him, if we decide we’re going to walk in our own plan rather than God’s plan, well that’s our choice – we have free will. However, if we then realise that God had a better plan all along, and we’d be better off following him, then he’ll guide us back – but it’s not going to be easy. There’s consequences, there are things we’re going to need to go through to get back to where we should have been if we’d followed God’s direction in the first place.
But remember, he doesn’t abandon us. He doesn’t forget us. He keeps his promise and if we stick by him, then he will bring us back to the promised land.
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