Numbers

The Road Ahead

“Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey” Numbers 9:22

It would be a rare person who had no interest in what lay ahead in their lives. It would be so rare that we might consider that person not sound of mind. Historically people have tried and tested many methods of discovering their future for both short term and long term. Our daily papers and other media pamper to this desire in people. Even though they all fail the test of 100% accuracy many people still turn to them in a vain attempt to quieten their anxiety. The opposite seems to be the case. They become more anxious.

God says to us through the Apostle Paul, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The fact is that we can either remain anxious or pray and trust the Lord.

The Lord told Abraham what He was about to do in Sodom (Genesis 18:17, 18) because he was His friend (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). The Lord tells believers future events for their comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:18) and not be anxious. This is one of the reasons God has told us things before they happen. He also tells us things ahead so that we can discern that it is truly Him speaking (Deuteronomy 18:15-22). The test of a true prophet of God given in this passage is 100% accuracy. All other future tellers are false.

A new generation of Israel that did not know slavery in Egypt was growing and, like all of us, had a tendency to be anxious about the future. This generation had not seen the signs and miracles in Egypt or the Red Sea crossing but they would have to learn to trust and obey the Lord. People will only voluntarily obey one whom they trust. To build this trust and obedience the Lord led Israel through the wilderness areas for forty years. They did not know from day to day whether they would remain camped or be on the move. What they learned through this was trust and obedience. They were warned to stay away from others who claimed to tell the future because that would have destroyed their trust in the Lord and their obedience to Him. This did happen in later generations in varying degrees.

We can either trust Him or be anxious. We can either come to Him in prayer or go to the soothsayers of our day. Which we do will decide our enjoyment in life. The one who trusts the Lord will find great joy, peace and pleasure in obeying Him and they will love life. If that is true of us then we should expect that our faces will reflect that.

Each evening when we go to bed thank the Lord for His gracious leading and presence for that day and in the morning wake up expectantly for His gift of a new day. We may think we know what is going to happen today but in reality we only have plans that can be changed or destroyed in a moment. The Lord knows every detail ahead and if we believe Him to be trustworthy then we will trust Him and enjoy the journey no matter what surprises enter our day.

Israel was essentially forced to obey. Where the pillar of cloud or fire was, that was where the manna would be next morning. Each individual’s enjoyment of the night and day was dependent upon their level of trust in the Lord. It is the same for us.

Faith or Commonsense?

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him” Hebrews 11:6

How often do we hear that something is ‘just commonsense’? The fact that we hear it so often reveals that it isn’t all that common. We sometimes hear the term in relation to the Christian life as well. With the 57 varieties of ‘Christian’ in the world these days what we may think should be common Christian thinking isn’t so common.

The fact is that commonsense is not faith and faith is not commonsense. Jesus referred to the Israelites that had been bitten by poisonous snakes in John 3:14. The account in Numbers 21:4-9 reveals that they could be cured by simply looking at a pole with a brass serpent attached to one end. That was not commonsense but it was an act of faith. “Commonsense and faith stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration” writes Oswald Chambers.

We must be careful not to apply what seems to be commonsense in the world, without considering God and His Word, to our spiritual life. From time to time God will ask us to do (or not do) that which defies commonsense to test our faith in Him (as He did with Abraham) but also to accomplish His purpose.

The just shall live by faith we are told and faith and common sense run directly against each other. We will either let one rule our lives or the other but never both.

Faith puts Jesus Christ and His Word first (God’s wisdom). Commonsense puts my knowledge and ability to reason first (man’s wisdom). It is for us to choose.

God will bring us into circumstances requiring actions of faith in order to educate our faith and destroy commonsense. Faith is the whole person rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Faith is taking God at His word and living according to it even when I don’t see the outcome as being beneficial.

So Great Salvation

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14, 15

The account of Israel’s rebellion against God to which this passage refers is recorded in Numbers 21:4-9. God had graciously and miraculously delivered Israel from bondage and slavery in Egypt. Israel had seen the staff of God raised over the Red Sea and the waters parted for them. The waters then returned to drown the Egyptian army.

As they were tested on the way they became upset at having to depend on God for water and food. “There is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread” they said (Numbers 21:5). Their complaint was a slur on the nature and character of God. They were in effect saying that He would not keep His word. We should not be surprised that God responded by sending fiery serpents to bite them. Instead of trusting and obeying God they had acted in unbelief and accused Him of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them.

In mercy God responded to their confession and repentance, not by removing the serpents but by asking for an act of faith in His word; the very thing they had spurned. At God’s command Moses placed a brass serpent on the end of the staff of God and raised it up. If anyone would take God at His word and look at the raised serpent he would live.

Jesus’ reference to this event makes it clear that the event was a foreshadow of His own death on the cross and the life that would bring to all who looked to Him in faith. The Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing just as looking at a brass serpent on a pole to be saved from snake bite would have appeared. It was not the looking that saved from the poison but an act of God in response to them believing what He said

Jesus says that anyone poisoned by sin that looks to Him on the cross for salvation from sin’s curse will be saved and live. Again, it is not the act of looking that saves but and act of God in response to that person acting in faith in His word.

Jesus had just said, “You must be born again” (John 3:3, 7) and being born again is an act of God not of man (cf. John 1:12, 13).

On this resurrection Sunday we reflect and rejoice that we have eternal life because God acted in response to our faith in Jesus Christ just as He said He would. He can do this justly because Jesus Christ died for our sin. No wonder the writer of Hebrews called it “so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).

Not so Common

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him” Hebrews 11:6

How often do we hear that something is ‘just commonsense’? The fact that we hear it so often shows that it isn’t so common. We often hear the term in relation to the Christian life as well and we find that, with the 57 varieties of ‘Christian,’ what we think should be common Christian thinking isn’t so common either.

The fact is that commonsense is not faith and faith is not commonsense. We read in Numbers 21 that the Israelites, bitten by poisonous snakes, could be cured by simply looking at a pole with a brass serpent attached to one end. That was not commonsense but it was an act of faith. “Commonsense and faith stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration” (Oswald Chambers).

We must be careful not to apply what seems to be commonsense in the world to our spiritual life in Jesus Christ without taking God into account. From time to time God will ask us to do that which defies worldly commonsense to test our faith in Him (as He did with Abraham) but also to accomplish His purpose.

The just shall live by faith we are told and faith and commonsense run directly against each other.

Faith puts Jesus Christ and His Word first. Commonsense puts my knowledge and ability to reason first which disregards the first commandment. If we live according to commonsense we do not live by faith in God but by faith in ourselves.

God will bring us into circumstances requiring actions of faith in order to educate our faith and destroy our reliance on worldly commonsense that springs from the fallen nature. In the test He provides will we respond in commonsense or in faith in His Word?

Faith is the whole person rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Faith is taking God at His word and living according to it even when we don’t see the outcome as being beneficial or in accord with so called commonsense.

A Distorted View

“What the Lord says, that I must speak” (Numbers 24:13)

Balak was a leader who had gods of his own making. When men make gods they make them in the likeness of men which means that it appears that they can be manipulated by pride, greed, power or an emotion such as jealousy.

In the face of the living God through a threat from Israel Balak imagined Israel’s God to be like his own and therefore believed that Israel’s God could be manipulated. He sought out Balaam, a prophet of Israel’s God, to act on his behalf since he had no relationship with the one true God.

Balak offered wealth to Balaam to manipulate God into placing a curse on Israel. However, Balaam knew that God could not be manipulated though he himself, a man, was vulnerable and eventually was seduced by the lure of wealth.

Before dealing with Balak the Lord first dealt with Balaam’s sin of greed and disobedience. It seems extraordinary that Balaam did not notice that he was having a conversation with a donkey but it was God’s means of rebuking and correcting him. After that Balaam said to Balak, “The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak” (Numbers 22:38). It would be good if we prayed that our preachers did likewise and for those of us who do speak we should have this same mind that Balaam now had.

Balak’s problem was that he did not understand the nature of the true and living God. Unfortunately it is so easy for us to fall into the same trap as Balak and think we can manipulate God. This is the pagan way and has no sway with God. God does not exist to provide us with wealth, health and pleasure like a genie from a bottle, Father Christmas or any other similar imaginative being from the minds of men. On the contrary, He has created us for His own pleasure.

The first step for us in bringing pleasure to Him is that we come to Him through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The second step is to keep on coming to Him always.