Numbers
20-22; Psalm 38
*Click here to read these passages:
A
few thoughts from each of the chapters from Numbers today:
~Chapter
20 – The chapter that pains me…the one that is kind of like when you’ve seen a
movie before and know the ending, but yet you still are rooting for a different
outcome. Moses, the faithful
humble servant of the Lord who has been in the very presence of God and who God
has done so much through, fails at following God’s directions, and is told he
will not be able to enter the promised land. The Bible is not a fairy tale; It is true, and it is
real. Moses was a hero and a
faithful man of God, but as all men are, he was flawed. What does restore some hope though, is
knowing that God wasn’t done with Moses.
Moses still saw some victories after this, and in the New Testament he
shows up again when he talks with Jesus up on the mountain.
~Chapter
21 – The bronze snake. As Jesus is
teaching Nicodemus in John 3 he says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the
desert, so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up, that everyone who believes
in him may have eternal life.” He is the cure from sin if we will look to Him
and believe.
~Chapter
22 – Balaam. At first I was a
little confused as to why God was angry when Balaam went with the princes of
Moab because God had permitted him to go.
But Balaam knew from the beginning that it was not God’s will for him to
go, and God knew the intentions within Balaam’s heart and that he “loved the wages
of wickedness.” Somewhat similar
with Moses and the water from the rock: God still brought forth the water, but
it wasn’t the way God wanted Moses to do it. The commentary in my Bible today (that was a little bit of a
punch in the gut for me!) says that we need to distinguish between was God will
permit us to do and what he tells us to do.
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