Posts with the tag “numbers”

Daily Devotional from Deuteronomy 3--Verse 22 (NIV)“Do not be afraid of [your enemies]; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”The book of Deuteronomy is really interesting. It is a series of sermons from Moses to the people of Israel just before the conquest of the Promised Land and Moses’ death. It is a good overview of Israel’s story and how God had been faithful to them. Moses is giving...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 35—Verse 33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.He’s talking specifically about murder. Murder pollutes the land. Most of us probably have not murdered anyone. But 1 John 3:15 says that whoever hates their bro...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 33--Verse 2Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage. Chapter 33 is basically a log of where the children of Israel had been for the last 40 years. It was a record of their journey. Are you keeping a record of yours? Might be a good idea, especially if you move around as much as Israel did. If you count them, Israel moved 40 times in 40 years. And sometim...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 30-- Verse 2If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. God cares about our words and the actions that follow. This verse makes me think of Matthew 5:37, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” When we put conditions on ourselves, we make it easier to break th...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 28--Verse 25And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.All throughout today’s reading, we see time set for holy convocations. Time where everybody takes a break from ordinary work and gathers together. Wouldn’t that be a cool thing to experience today? What would it look like? How would we incorporate it? In Israel, th...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 27--Verses 15-17 (NIV)Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”Moses had just been told by God that he is not allowed to go further because of h...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 24--Verse 2And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him...From reading the Scriptures you might assume that the prophet Balaam was a good guy. After all, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him; he would only bless the children of Israel and not curse them, in spite of the great riches  he was offered.Perhaps th...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 22--Verse 38bThe word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.Nothing could convince Balaam to say other than what God wanted him to say. If you search www.openbible.info for 'what does the Bible say about how we should talk' you will find a LOT! Our words can bring life or death. They can build up and tear down. Just like God didn't want Balaam cursing his peopl...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 20--Verse 8Tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So, what did Moses do? He struck it. Twice! Why? Because he was angry. Be careful of acting out in anger. Sure, you probably have a reason, quite likely a very good reason for being angry. But before you pop off at the mouth and before you walk off and slam the door, ask yourself a simple question, ‘is it ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 19-- Verse 9bAnd they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. Clean, unclean, and water are words we see repeated over and over throughout these passages. God gave direction again and again to the people of Israel on the care they were to undertake in order to be set apart. But, just like us, the Isr...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 16--Verses 47 and 48 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Many times in the Old Testament you see the wrath of God halted, what stopped His wr...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 14--Verse 3 (CSB)Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?It is so easy to read this story and get so frustrated at the Israelites. Their cries have been heard, they’ve been delivered from oppression, God saw them safely to deliverance by parting the Red...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 13--Verse 13But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it."God promised a national homeland for the children of Israel. As they left Egypt and approached the Promised Land, the Lord told Moses to send men to check out the land of Canaan.Spies - one from each of the 12 tribes - were selected...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 11—Verse 1And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.It’s a repetitive theme. The people complain, grumble, murmur. About their leaders, about God, their circumstances, what they don’t have or wha...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 9--Verse 23At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out.  Sometimes we stay put; sometimes we move forward. It all depends on what the Lord is doing. Verses 15-23 describe the cloud by day and the fire by night. When it lingered over the tabernacle, Israel remained. When the cloud lifted, Israel broke camp. And they lived this wa...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 6--Verse 27So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.You’ve probably heard the blessing in verses 24-26. But did you notice that God is the one who gave Aaron and his sons the words to speak over the Israelites? Even more amazing is that we still hear this blessing spoken over us today—the very words of God given as a blessing to His p...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Chapter 4--Verse 20But they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.To think the priests couldn’t even look past the veil, no looking, no touching or else they would die. We see later in 2 Samuel 6:6-11 Uzzah is struck dead when he tried to save the ark from falling when the oxen stumbled. But there is good news! It’s not like this anymore....  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 2--Verse 3 Those to camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies, the chief of the people of Judah being Nahshon the son of Amminadab…The more I read and learn about the Bible, the more I love the story of the Tabernacle. One of my favorite things about it is that the entrance must face the east. What makes ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Leviticus 27--Verse 21But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it.Have you ever hit the reset button on a piece of electronic equipment that was no longer functioning properly?When the Israelites reached the Promised Land, God distributed land to the 12 tribes....  Read More