Numbers 19: Cleansing Waters

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we are unclean before the Lord. Making mistakes in a movie theater, lust-full thoughts, making fun of the “weird” kid at school, hating our parents, what ever it is sometimes we are unclean before the Lord.

Fortunately we don’t have to kill any doves, rams, bulls, or goats anymore to make up for it. Jesus died on the cross as our ultimate sacrifice, and through his blood we are cleaned. Have you asked for him to clean you? Verse 20 says that if we are unclean, we should be put outside of our community, separated from our God, and our friends. We are humans, we will sin, but the love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness of the Lord covers it all. Spend time today confessing to him today, and walk through the Cleansing water that he provides.

20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.

Numbers 7: dishes and a petting zoo???

If your keeping up with us in this quest of reading numbers, chapter 7 is one that could easily be one that is skipped over. Its 89 verses make it one of the longest chapters in the Old Testament, and I think one of the longest in the bible. This chapter talks about the needs of the temple being meet by the offerings of the Israelites. They all brought a silver place, a silver bowl, a grain offering, a gold dish, incense, a bull, a ram, a lamb, a male goat, two oxen, 5 more rams, and five more goats. In short they brought some dishes and started a petting zoo.. (although most of the animals were given as a sacrifice).

Chapter 7 marks the completion of the tabernacle. The Israelites have finished the building that will serve as God’s dwelling place among them here on earth. What an awesome thing to celebrate. And that is what they did, the Israelites were celebrating the completion, and as an act of obedience to God they all offered the finest of dishes and the best of their animals.

Think of something that has happened in your life that you think is really cool. A few months ago I purchased a brand new car. It was an awesome thing that God provided for me. Another cool moment for me is that recently I got to hang with my big time BFF’s in Michigan, I don’t get to see them much but they are some of the greatest people I have ever met. God completes amazing things in our lives all the time, do we ever stop and think about what he has done, and we have to give back to him as an offering?

What can we give as a gift to celebrate his faithfulness in our lives?

The Israelites were given an opportunity to walk around the place where God lived on earth. In response the Israelites gave God their finest animals, silver and gold as an offering to thank him and worship God for this gift.

What do you have to give to celebrate the things he has done in your life?
Maybe time to serve at a nursing home… maybe a part of your allowance can be put in the offering plate on Sunday morning…. Maybe just a kind word or encouragement to a friend… We all have a lot that we can offer, but it should be our best that we have to give. What can you give?

Numbers 1: Parting Lake Michigan, like the red sea!

Chapter one of numbers: Most perceive Numbers to be one of the most boring books in the bible. I’m not going to lie, it’s not one of the more exciting ones - that’s for sure. But everything in the Bible has a reason why it is included and this particular chapter is one that shows us the amazing goodness of God. How can we see that god is good through 54 verses of counting people… well track with me here for a minute.

Many of us struggle to believe there actually is a God because we cant text him, call him, email him, punch him, and we cant always see him. But often I think we are looking for something different then God showing himself to us.

To understand Numbers we have to go back to Genesis 28. In this chapter there is this guy named Jacob who is told by God that he will have LOTS of grandchildren who have LOTS more grandchildren and eventually he will have a huge family. His family will bless “all the peoples of the earth”. God closes his blessing over Jacob by saying He not leave Jacob untill what is promised is done. So what does this have to do with Numbers?? We move on from Jacob and have the story of Joseph… (go go go Joseph you know what they say…) and then we have the Exodus. We find Gods chosen people in captivity as slaves under the Egyptian king, and they are angry.

Numbers starts with the Israelites who were freed from captivity as a result of the miracles of God. The Israelites are the descendants of Jacob this is his family years and years later. A reason for this count in Numbers is for the people to see how faithful God has been to his promise, despite the slavery and captivity; God still blessed these people and kept his word. And all the while He was with them as he promised.

Jacobs family was originally 75 people, but now as we read in Numbers the number totals 603,550. God surly did bless them and this chapter is a way to put in writing how much God blessed Jacob’s family. And God blessed them even through the hardest time in their life.

We often expect God to do crazy miraculous things in our life so that we know he is there.. Part lake Michigan before our eyes! But God is always with us, and sometimes we have to look at the small things of life to see the ways that he has blessed us. We need to look in the small happy moments of the day to see him keep his promises to us.

Have you been looking for him??