Luke 13-24 and Numbers 1-9

I’m still sticking to the fact that so far, Luke has been my favorite. Whether it was the way it was written, the way it was organized, or the fact that this is the 3rd time we’ve read basically the same accounts, just within this study, I felt like Luke’s account of the gospel helped connect some of the dots and made these details kind-of click in my mind. What about y’all? Are you feeling like you’re piecing together the stories and accounts you’ve read and heard before?

At this point, we are 9 weeks into our study and have finished 6 books of the Bible!! No time to slow down now, let’s jump back to the Old Testament and see what we can find in Numbers.

Is it just me or is Numbers one of the books of the Bible most people just don’t spend a lot of time in? I feel like we very rarely have Sunday School lessons or sermons or Bible studies based on Numbers.

Personally, I have a really hard time wrapping my brain around these numbers. Whenever I hear stories of the Israelites’ journey I visualize a group of people but no where near these numbers! I can’t even imagine what kind of production it is to move over 600,000 men, plus their families, their workers, their livestock, their things. I have a hard time keeping up with and taking care of our family of 4 plus our 2 pets- getting everyone in bed or getting out the door, much less planning a trip just down the road- and we’re in a car, on paved roads, with navigation, normally with a movie on in the backseat. Oh the headache of organizing ALL of these people, in the middle of a desert, going to a kind-of unknown destination. “How much longer?” I don’t know. “When are we going to get there?” I don’t know. “Where are we?” I really don’t know. “When are we moving again?” You guessed it- I DON’T KNOW.

As a planner type person- this seems like it would be SO FRUSTRATING. BUT, let’s take a minute and really think through this scenario- how freeing is this? I mean really think about it- how freeing would it be to live life like this? Really just turning everything over to God. I don’t know WHERE I’m going, when I going, how I’m going- but God knows, so I don’t need to know. I just need to be willing to do it. Move when He says, go WHERE He says, do it how He says. What kind of weight would that take off our shoulders if we really just stopped trying to know and just did?!

The other biggie really striking me here is how this section really shows that each person serves a God given purpose!! God is asking for a very specific accounting of each and every person because He has plan for all of them. There was no personality or career aptitude tests to see what job you’re best suited for. There was no job interview, 90 day probationary training period, or option of switching clans or job hopping. Nothing like that. Each person belongs to a clan, based on their lineage, period. Each clan is assigned a position within the camp. Each clan is assigned a marching order for when they are on the move. And each clan is assigned a duty. God assigned all of it.

What were your takeaways? Still sticking with our reading plan?? Feeling like we’re accomplishing our goal of reading the Bible to better understand the book as a whole?