Posts with the tag “numbers”

Daily Devotional from Numbers 25—Verses 7-8When Phinehas…saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.This story might seem overly severe. However, the Israelites were dying of a plague sent by G...  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...It seems like Balaam was a good guy. After all, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he would only bless Israel and not curse them, despite the great riches he was offered.Perhaps the temptation of riches was too great, because later in the Scriptu...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 23–Verse 28Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.Balaam spoke some of the most eloquent, insightful prophecies found in all of the Old Testament. However, I feel sorry for the guy. He is being strung along by a creep because he had no bone in his back. He was gifted; he was extremely anointed, but he had no sense of danger. And the story did...  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 21--Verses 8-9So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.The people complained against not just Moses in this instance, but against God himself. They became discouraged on the journey and “loathed” God’s provision for them. The serpents were sent as judgement and many died from their b...  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 wo...  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 Israel...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 18—Verse 7b…I give your priesthood to you as a gift…One of the most honored gifts God gives is to serve the Most High as a Priest. The gift was not to be taken lightly. There were many requirements, and Holiness and reverence through ritual were more important than anything they did. They recognized that God was Holy and must be treated with honor and respect, just as...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 17—Verse 8On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.Imagine that! A staff of dead wood miraculously coming to life, forming buds, then blossoms, then ripe almonds — the dead brought to life — confirming the priesthood of...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 16--Verses 47-48So 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 wrath? P...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 15--Verse 32While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.God takes the Sabbath rest seriously. And while we are not bound by the Law, the Sabbath is something that benefits us greatly. In Hebrews 4:10 it says of the Sabbath, “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his...  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’s easy to read this story and get frustrated at the Israelites. Their cries have been heard, God delivered from oppression, and now leads them in a pillar of cloud and fire, and he feeds them d...  Read More

May 31Daily Devotional from Numbers 13--Verse 30But 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 se...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 12—Verses 6-8aAnd he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD.”I love reading Bible stories. The Old Testament prophet...  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. About their leaders, about God, their circumstances, what they don’t have, or what they don’t lik...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 10—Verse 9When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and be saved from your enemies.We serve a God who fights on our behalf. All we have to do is sound the call. Are we being spiritually attacked? Sound the call. Pray. Blast your worship. Sin...  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 way f...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 8--Verse 14Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.God set aside the tribe of Levi to be the servants of the Tabernacle. When they entered the Promised Land, only the tribe of Levi did NOT receive any land as an inheritance – they just got cities within the other tribes’ lands. Because God was supposed to be t...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 7--Verse 89And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.Mother Teresa was once asked in an interview, “What do you say when you pray?” She replied, “Nothing, I just listen.”It’s interesting that w...  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 Numbers 5—Verse 29This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife.This chapter sets forth a specific way of determining guilt or innocence in a wife accused of adultery in ancient Israel. It shows both the severity of the act ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 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 3—Verses 11-12And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine.”God chose the tribe of the Levites, specifically to minister to Him and to care for and guard all of the components of the tabernacle. They were to prot...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 2--Verse 3Those 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; because back...  Read More

Daily Devotional from Numbers 1—Verse 2Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head.Reading a list of names can be boring, but the fact that they are included in the Scriptures means they are important and there for a reason (2 Tim 3:16). Genealogy was important to the Jews to determine if on...  Read More

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