We continue our journey through the Bible! It is an exciting time. Every book of the Bible has lessons for the follower of Jesus. Numbers is no different! But can you get past the numbers in Numbers?

Blessing the People

This blessing has been declared over God’s people for thousands of years

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24–26 (ESV)

This blessing was to put God’s name on his people, to remind them of his goodness and grace, to make them receptive to all the blessings he wanted to give them.

Lesson – God wants to bless his people. His desire is for this people to experience all the good he has for them.

Elders and the Spirit of God

It is unimaginable how difficult it must have been for Moses to lead these people. The burden for them was squarely on his shoulders and he needed help. God provided help by putting his Spirit on 70 elders of the people. When they were filled with his Spirit, they prophesied – a very normal response to being Spirit filled. This is described in Numbers 11:16-30.

Joshua was concerned that the Spirit of God had come upon two of the Elders who had not assembled with the others for the ‘ceremony.’ Moses, on the other hand, expressed his desire that all of God’s people would experience the filling of Spirit! What a prophetic word!

Lesson – When the Spirit of God fills his people, we hear prophetic words and we are filled with joy because God has visited his people with his presence and power.

Mission of the Spies

Moses sent twelve men to spy out the promised land (Numbers 13-14). They came back with a rather pessimistic report. They confirmed that the land was good but also reported that it was well fortified and filled with ‘giants.’

Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve, tried to overcome the people’s fear by reminding them of the power of God. They believed that if the people would exercise their faith, they could overcome the enemy no matter how big and strong they were.

Sadly, fear ruled the day and the people embraced pessimism and doom!

When Moses announced that God decided to exile them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they suddenly repented and armed themselves to go and take possession of the land. God was not in this decision and they failed miserably and began their prolonged wilderness experience.

Lesson – When fear rules, failure follows. Sometimes, even when we repent, we cannot escape the consequences of our failure. So, feed your faith, use your faith, keep your eyes on Jesus and see what faith can truly do!

Keep reading – Numbers has so much more to offer!