NUMBERS

Chapter 1

So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel— all those listed were 603,550. Numbers 1:45-46 – Here God calls Moses to count the men of Israel that were ready and able to go to war. As you can read, the number was quite high. Something God encourages us to do is count up the people we have in our life ready to go to war for us. To see just how many people we have that would be willing to step into our battles to fight along side us. What may surprise us, in a good way, is the number of people. Our enemy loves to deceive us into thinking we have no one on our side, but the truth is God has given us people. Maybe it’s not over 600,000, but even just a couple solid people in our story who would be willing to fight for us is a tremendous blessing. Today, don’t let the enemy have victory in the people’s lives you’d fight for. Make sure they know you’d have their back if the time came for it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac- Daily DEVO 1417

Numbers 1 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ² “Take 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. ³ From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. Numbers 1:1-3 – A command then is given by the Lord to get a head count of the people of Israel. Now, more precisely, a head count of the men of Israel, twenty years old and older, able to go to war, and was not a part of the tribe of Levi. That number equaled 603,550 individuals. What we see then is this nation that God rescued from Egypt was massive. For this number doesn’t include Levi’s tribe, nor the men unable to go to war, nor the men under twenty years old, nor all the ladies in the nation! Meaning easily this group was over a million strong, and every single one of them had tasted the goodness and providence of the Lord. Today, I’m writing this in my church office before I get up and preach on Sunday morning. While the congregation God has called me to be the pastor over for sure isn’t a million strong, I know when I look out from the stage there will be many people that have as well tasted the goodness and providence of the Lord. Like the people in Moses’ day, we who have the salvation of the Lord have been truly blessed. As you sit in church today or watch online, take a moment to look around at all the people in that room with you. Every single person there God created, Jesus died on the cross for, and every person there has the way of God’s salvation offered to them. When you see all their faces, and when you think back to the over million strong nation God took care of in Numbers, be reminder we serve a powerful, awesome God who is mighty to save. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2282

Chapter 2

The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Numbers 2:2 – This whole chapter was giving them the layout on the order of where they were to set up their tents. Seems kind of a minor thing to dedicate an entire chapter of the Bible to, but notice the key aspect to how they should set up their tents. All the tribes were to set their tents up surrounding and facing towards the tent of meeting. When they settled, God was to be in the middle of them all and all were to be facing towards Him. Not only would that keep their focus on God but keep all the tribes focus in the same direction together. So how about your tent? What’s it surrounding and what’s it facing towards? If not God, let’s set up camp where we need to instead. Where God is at the center and all our focus is directed at Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac- Daily DEVO 1418

Numbers 2 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO Thus did the people of Israel. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, each one in his clan, according to his fathers’ house. Numbers 2:34 – Lots of names and lots of numbers in this passage. Often chapters like this where such an historical account is given makes it difficult for us to apply to our life, but look at the image being given around all the numbers and names. A massive part of the chapter was God giving directions on how the different tribes were to camp when not moving. Some on the north side, some on the south, some on the west, and some on the east side. But the north side of what? What were they to be south of or east of? The tent of meeting. The place where the offerings were to be given and worship of the Lord took place. The tent of meeting the was to be at the center of all the tribes and they were to camp facing the tent. God was teaching them that whenever you settle down, make sure I’m at the center and your eyes are on me. And when you move, you get up and move how I tell you to move. How then are you camped? Are you keeping God at the center of everything you do? Are you keeping your eyes upon His dwelling place? Are you moving only when and only how He says to move? If we are to be numbered among His people today as a follower of Jesus, Jesus must be at the center of everything we do and we must move only as Jesus leads. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2283

Chapter 3

They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. Numbers 3:7 – Let’s focus on the phrase “keep guard” today. In this chapter we see it used multiple times as God is giving out the responsibilities to the different Levite groups. It’s the Hebrew word Shamar which means to keep something, to watch over something, or to preserve something. When it came to the duty God gave them, they were to guard it, to keep, watch, and preserve that thing. What then are we called to “guard?” What has God placed in our care to watch over and preserve? Here’s a few things, your spiritual life, your physical body, the lives of those God has placed within your story, your church family. The list could keep going, but our point today is we have something to guard. If we slack on our duty, lol what we are called to watch over won’t be watched over and as we see in our passage, outsiders could come in and have their way with it. So keep watchful and stay on guard duty over what God has placed under your care. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1419

Numbers 3 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷ They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. Numbers 3:5-7 – God was setting the groundwork for His worship to be able to properly take place. In the verses prior we learn a little about the high priest Aaron’s family and come to find out that its him and his two sons who oversee all things involving the work of the temple. Now, if the place of worship was a permanent structure that didn’t need moved and they only worshiped every so often and there were just a few people that made up the nation of Israel, then maybe the three of them could cover. Yet, the place of worship had to be moved, and they performed their priestly duties throughout out each and every day. Also, the nation of Israel was more than just a few people. One commentator speculates that it would have been in total around 2,400,000 people at this time. And they had three priests. If that was where God left it, Aaron and his two sons would have been burned out and worship would have gone undone like it needed to. What we see though is God bring in an entire tribe of Israel to be helpers for Aaron. 22,000 men to be exact. As I was studying I found this quote in Matthew Henry’s commentary over this passage…”Those whom God finds work for, He will find help for.” If then God has called you to a large calling and the work in front of you is more than you at your best can handle alone, trust God will find you help. He wants His work done and He wants His servants well cared for. So step into your mission today, even if the help isn’t visible to you yet, and trust the Lord will take care of you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2284

Chapter 4

…from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come to do the service of ministry and the service of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, those listed were 8,580. Numbers 4:47-48 – God was outlining for His people how to handle moving the tent of meeting when they needed to move it. These 8,580 men were charged with that responsibility. Yet keep in mind what all this chapter says, they couldn’t look on any of the holy things or touch them directly. Moses or Aaron would have to first come in and cover the items and attached the poles in which to carry them with. Their job was to simply carry, but if they didn’t carry, the rest of the nation would not have had the tent of meeting with them when they got to their next location. Never downplay your responsibility. Maybe all you’re doing is carrying something that you can’t even look upon, but you faithfully doing what God calls you to allows others to worship Him more easily. So carry what you’ve been called to carry as God has called you to carry it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1420

Numbers 4 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying. Thus they were listed by him, as the Lord commanded Moses. Numbers 4:49 – God gave to Aaron the whole of the tribe of Levi to help him in accomplishing the work of the Lord that was tasked to him. This chapter breaks down the three sons of Levi and what aspects of the work of the Lord their families were called to take on. One family to carry the ark, another to take down the curtains, another to carry the frames of the tent, etc. What we see here is a set up where everything is taken care of, everyone has a place to serve, and no one gets burned out. Yet, what if one of the sons of Levi and his family decided the tasks given to him weren’t as special as some of the other ones and choose to slack on his tasks to start doing some of the more “glamourous” tasks that weren’t assigned to him? For starters…aspects of worship wouldn’t be able to happen now, tension and division between brothers would grow, and confusion would spread throughout the tribe and nation. The most serious issue though is that if they chose to behave this way they would be in disobedience to the Lord. Yes, they would still be doing the work of the Lord, but it wouldn’t be the work God called them to do. What then has God called you to do? What has He called your brother to do? Is there a discontent in your heart because the roles given to your brother are more glamourous than yours? Know every task given to us by God are ones that could give God glory if done faithfully. Yes, glory to you may not come, but God will be lifted high by our faithful service to Him, even when the tasks aren’t very glamourous. Serve how God has called you to serve and bring glory to His name with your work. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2285

Chapter 5

This 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. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. Numbers 5:29-30 – Here almost the whole chapter surrounds the jealousy and suspicion a man has about his wife over her sleeping around. God gives an entire process on how to handle the jealousy, to bring the matter into the light, and resolve it once and for all. While the process isn’t too applicable for today, we see how God is about crushing anything that could cause division or tension between us. God’s saying if you detect in yourself this jealousy growing, bring it to me and let’s deal with it so we can move on. What then has come up between you and someone else that has created division? Have you brought it to God? Have you asked Him to step in and seek healing there or are you content with the separation? While healing may not happen and separation isn’t something only you can fix alone, God’s heart is for us to live at peace as much as possible with others. Bring then the source of separation to Him today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1421

Numbers 5 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. Numbers 5:16 – The majority of this chapter outlines a test that was to be made if a woman was suspected of adultery. If a woman had committed adultery, but no proof of it was left or if the husband suspected unfaithfulness to him, he could have his wife undergo the test. As you read through the verses and see not only the process but the punishments attached, it’s a lot for sure. While shocking and so vastly differently than our culture today, see what God was doing here with all this. First, God knew how hidden sins could cause vast damage to relationships and His people, so He was giving a way to unearth the sin that have been buried so it would no longer fester and cause hurt. Second, God was giving innocent women a means to prove their innocence. In a time where the voice of a woman wasn’t held highly and where adultery would be punished with death, this gave the accused, yet innocent, women a means to prove they had not sinned and had remained faithful. So as foreign of a process this may seem to us today, what God set up here would have done two beautiful things. It would have given the people a way to identify hidden sins and identify faithfulness. For us, trust what God is doing today has the same heart. God works to uncover sins among us for He knows well the death sin brings. He also wants those who are faithful to be identified as such. God may be working in unique, and even strange to us ways, but His heart is after holiness in His people. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2286

Chapter 6

Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 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 6:23-26 – The song “The Blessing” by Elevation Worship finds its lyrics straight from this passage. God was directing Aaron to bless the people in the Lord and remind them God is turned towards them. Know then for you today God’s heart is to bless you and keep you. His face is turned toward you in love and grace. His plans are to lift you up and give you peace. Today, hear all that for your story today. Whatever shadows you are navigating through have no way to stand against the light coming from God’s face who is looking down on you deeply in love. May the blessing of the Lord be all over you today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1422

Numbers 6 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord… Numbers 6:1-2 – I can’t help but think about Samson as I read over this chapter. Not that long ago we covered the story of Samson at church. We saw how he was called to be a Nazirite not only for a season, but for his whole life. What we see then described in this chapter is how Samson’s whole life should have looked. Never drinking wine, never cutting his hair, and never touching anything dead. He was to be set apart for the Lord his whole life. Yet, as you read through his story, Samson was so far from the described life of a Nazirite. God gave clear directions of what He wanted His Nazirites’ life to look like, and Samson chose to not follow it. God has as well in scripture outlined clearly what sort of life a set-apart follower of His today should look like. One who priorities the mission of God over their own agendas. One that loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. One that seeks to love their neighbor as themselves. One that seeks to have the fruits of the Spirit residing deeply within them and pouring out deeply from them. These and so much more are given to us in scripture so we can know how we are to live as followers of Jesus. As we then examine what a follower of Jesus’ life should look like from scripture, can we truly say we are following Jesus? Let’s seek to make our lives so in line with what scripture says a follower of Jesus’ life should look like that there is no question or doubt in those around us of who we follow and who we serve. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2287 

Chapter 7

But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder. Numbers 7:9 – To help with the task of moving the tent of meeting when needed, wagons and animals were giving to the ones who were called to do the work. Yet God allows no wagons or animals to the sons of Kohath because they were to carry their loads differently than everyone else due to the holiness of the things. Sometimes what we carry and how we have to carry it is different than everyone else around us. You may be carrying a loss that no ones else around you understands. You may have to carry burdens quietly to yourself due to your position that others would be able to share openly. What God has called you to carry, and how He’s called you to carry it, may look very different than for others. If though He’s given you that task, He must know you can bear it. Know He is there to pour strength into you to keep you going and is there to speak to when you can’t speak to anyone else. He understands carrying burdens that no one else can, so let Him help you with yours. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1423

Numbers 7 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the Lord said to Moses, “They shall offer their offerings, one chief each day, for the dedication of the altar.” Numbers 7:11 – The tent of meeting was set up, now it was time to set it apart as holy for the Lord. The twelve tribes were to each day bring in offerings to the Lord for the dedication, and we see what each tribe gave each day as we read through the chapter. If you read the whole chapter with us, it would be easy to begin glancing over the verses a little because each section was a repeat of the previous day’s offerings given, just from a different tribe each time. Same offering each day and we read through it twelve times. While those twelve times may seem a little much for us to read, please notice what happened at the end of the chapter when the people behaved towards the Lord so faithfully like this. God spoke. They followed the directions given to them by God, they faithfully came to Him how He called them to come to Him, and the result was the voice of the Lord being heard by Moses. Am I saying then that if you just remain faithful to God twelve more days then you’ll hear God’s voice and finally get the answers or clarity you’ve been waiting for? No, but I will say that sort of steadfast faithfulness will sure help you in hearing the voice of the Lord in your life. When we remain steady in our pursuit of the Lord, rather than an off-on sort of faithful walk, the lines of communication between us and God become so much clearer. If then you are wanting to hear from the Lord, choose a faithful walk today after Him. Come to Him how He says to come to Him. Give to Him what He says to give to Him. Do for Him what He says to do for Him. Learn from this passage that the more we walk after God like God says to walk after Him, the clearer His voice will be in our story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2288

Chapter 8

They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.  Numbers 8:26 – Here God was giving directions to the older Levites on what needed to change about their role. Up till then they had been the ones carrying out all the duties, but God said when you hit this certain age your role is to change. Now instead of doing everything their role was to guide and help the next generation in carrying out the duties. This change must take place in the church today if we want to see a healthy church of tomorrow. Where we have those who know church life and it’s responsibilities pouring into the next generation of the church so they know how to carry out the mission well. Whatever stage then of life you’re in, who could you pour into? What have you learned about life and your walk with God that you could share with someone to help them navigate their story with God better? Whether it’s in the workings of the church or just life, we need to pour into those younger than us to help them along. How can you begin today doing just that? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1424

Numbers 8 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. Numbers 8:22 – The message series we are currently working through at church is one covering Acts 1:1-11 where Jesus is preparing His disciples for the mission after He leaves. The point for Jesus was that they’d take in what He was giving them and then they’d go do the work. My heart with this series is that our church takes in these teachings and then gets after it with the work of the Lord. Here the Levites had much they needed to do to prepare themselves for the work assigned to them. What we see is they did all they were called to do in the prep stage, and as we see in our verse, then they went into do the work that the preparation was preparing them for. They didn’t wash, shave, and give offerings to simply go back to their tents afterwards to eat manna. Once they were prepared, they began serving. So should it be with us. Let’s take the time necessary to ready ourselves for doing the work of the Lord. Let’s learn His teachings and let’s work through the things we need to work through, but once prepared and God says go, let’s go. There is a very lost world around us in need of Jesus, let’s not keep them waiting. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2289

Chapter 9

Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. Numbers 9:22 – When God stayed, they stayed. When God moved, they moved. Their movements matched that of God. Never moving forward in a direction He wasn’t going, never staying in a place He didn’t remain. This is a great model for us when we wonder what our walk with God should look like? Our movements need to match God’s. When God tells us to remain in a spot, we need to stay. Maybe it’s for a couple days or maybe for a longer period, but if He says to stay we stay. Then when He moves away from something we move away too. Even if that something is very comfortable or precious to us, if God tells us to leave it we need to. No this part isn’t easy, but it is part of us calling Him our Lord. He is the one that determines the path, not us. Thankfully we have a good Lord that seeks to bring us to places of blessing and joy. Trust then His movements knowing they’ll lead you to where you need to be. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1425

Numbers 9 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵ And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. Numbers 9:4-5 – The Passover was a Jewish holiday remembering the miraculous way God has rescued His people from enslavement in Israel. It would remind them of the struggle of Egypt, the power of God, and the blessing of salvation they had experience. Here though we see God commanding them to keep the Passover even though they hadn’t reached the Promise land yet. They are still in the wilderness, yet God calls them to still faithfully keep the Passover. Here we see a truth about our life with God: You don’t have to be in the promise land to remain faithful to God. You may still be in the wilderness, or you may still be in Egypt, never even seeing yet what the promise land looks like, but God still has an expectation of His followers to remain faithful. Where then are you at within your faithful walk with the Lord? Is today one of blessing? If so, then today is a day to remain faithful to the ways God has called you to live for Him. Is though today one of struggle and wilderness? If so, then today is a day as well to remain faithful to the ways God has called you to live for Him. Seek even harder to follow after Jesus and to bless Him with your life when life is difficult. For yes, the season you are in may be difficult and difficult to follow Jesus in, but Jesus is what you need in this time. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2290

Chapter 10

And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” Numbers 10:29-30 – God is moving in a certain direction, but Hobab says that’s not where he plans to go. What would cause you to possibly give that same answer? I think for many of us the answer we’d love to say is nothing. Nothing would cause us to not follow the path God is going down. Let’s just not be naive thinking that choice will always be easy. Like for the Israelites it may be as easy as picking up camp and moving it to the next location. Yet it may come with the struggle to leave your comfort and people to follow God’s path. So yes, seek to have that conviction to always follow God, just understand that choice will come in a variety of difficulties throughout your story. I pray today that choice is easy for you, if not though, know I’m praying for you in that too. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1426

Numbers 10 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And if you do go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you. Numbers 10:32 – The cloud had lifted from the over the tabernacle and the nation of Israel was about to set out for the first time in their journey together in the wilderness. Before departing though, Moses speaks with his brother-in-law Hobab and invites him to come along for the journey. Moses shared with Hobab the goodness of God and the good promises God has made of protection and provision. Moses is following the Lord and he invited Hobab to do the same. Isn’t this how our talks with our friends and family should go too? Where we are first walking after God. We are aware of His goodness and His good promises to us, and we choose to follow God however He leads. On our journey, we then should invite those around us to come with us. Invite them to follow Jesus too and invite them into the promise of salvation that comes with following Jesus. For our promise land is Heaven and we have the assurance of blessing within this life too until we get there. If then we love those God has put in our life, we should invite them to follow Jesus too. For promise is available to them. Heaven is available to them. Forgiveness and salvation is available to them. Jesus is available to them. For Hobab and his family, they would have simply gone back to his old homeland and settled there, but because of an invite my Moses, they were able to taste and see the goodness of God. Let’s invite whoever we can to Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2291 

Chapter 11

But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord ‘s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” Numbers 11:21-23 – Did God ever say He was going to have to use what the people had already to provide for them? No, yet that’s where Moses’ mind went to first. That in order to provide God would have to be limited to what was already in their story. God though isn’t limited that way, so let’s not limit Him that way. Let’s not shorten the hand of God in our mind thinking His help in our story is limited to the resources we can see and understand. Rather if God says He’ll come through, trust He’ll do it. You don’t have to know how or understand it, just trust He’s good to His word. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1427

Numbers 11 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Numbers 11:29 – What’s the set up for this verse? Moses reached out to the Lord for help because the burden of caring for the people was too much for him to do alone. God commanded Moses to select seventy men to be elders in the camp to help him care well for and lead the people. In the establishment of these men as elders the Spirit that was upon Moses rested on these men as well and the result was them prophesying for a time. Joshua, seeing this and not fully understanding what was happening, tells Moses to put a stop to this and our verse is Moses’ response. What I love so deeply from this passage is we now exist in what Moses dreamed for. That all people would have access to the Spirit of the Lord. Because of Jesus and His sacrifice, all the world has access to having the Spirit of the Lord rest upon them and within them. The Spirit who empowers us for service, who produces the fruit we read about in Galatians 5, the Spirit who secures us in the family of God, this Spirit we all have free access to due to Jesus. How then are you using the Spirit within you today? Are you resting on the strength and peace He gives or are you finding it somewhere else? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit’s voice in your life lead or are you allowing your voice to direct your steps? We have been blessed with the Spirit of God in our life, the blessing Moses dreamt would be in all people’s life. Let’s make sure we are using the blessing God has given us of His Spirit. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2292

Chapter 12

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. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Numbers 12:7-8 – God spoke very plainly to Moses, in such a way that no one else at that time heard God. Yet as special as that was for Moses, you know what Moses didn’t have? The entire written out scriptures. He didn’t have the story of how the wilderness trek would end for them. He knew nothing of King David, Elijah, Paul, or all the stories of Jesus. All that though is available to us. We actually have more words from God to us than Moses had given to him throughout his life. If he was able to lead like he did with what he had, how much more can God do with us who have His written word in front of us. Seek then to be deeply into His Word. While it’s a blessing to have such access to it, it would be a shame to not ever take advantage of it in your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1428

Numbers 12 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” Numbers 12:13 – The woman spoken of in the passage is Miriam, Moses’ sister. She had begun to speak against Moses, and in response and in protection of His servant Moses, God caused Miriam to be filled with leprosy. Moses, despite being spoken against by Miriam, pleaded with the Lord on her behalf for her healing. See from this passage first how seriously God takes those who speak against His faithful servants. If He was willing to handle such words against Moses like this, dwell on what He will do in response to those who speak against His own Son Jesus. What I also hope we see in this story is our story. We walked away from the Lord towards our sin. With our lives and even our words we spoke against Jesus. Yet who was it that stood up on our behalf between us and the Father for our healing and salvation? It was Jesus, the one we spoke against. Know you are loved by Jesus. Yes, your story to date may have been one of speaking against Him and living in such an opposing way to Him, but He has more than just stood up and spoke up for you, He died so you could be healed. He took on our shame and He became the outcast so we could be called son and daughter of God. If then you have a relationship with Jesus, see today that you no longer have the leprosy of your sin covering you anymore. See that you are not being asked by God to carry shame because that’s already been carried by another for you. You have been healed and it’s all because of Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2293

Chapter 13

And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.” Numbers 13:27-28 – Yes, all that they said was true. The land did have fruit and it was good and it did have strong cities and strong people there. Up to this point nothing was done wrong, just the information given. It’s what the people did with the information that caused the problem. Some believed God was big enough to handle this large enemy. Others though only looked at their own might and began to cause others to doubt God too. We can’t change what’s ahead of us, but we can choose how we react to it. We can either choose to trust God in the face of danger or be the ones instilling fear in others. It’s one thing to not step into your promise land because of your fear, but it’s a whole separate thing to let your fear hold back others from their’s. So don’t only have faith in God for yourself, but also for the ones you have influence on. If you have the power to influence them away from God’s plan you have the power to influence towards it too. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1429

Numbers 13 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. Numbers 13:21 – We have finally stepped into the passage where the 12 spies enter the future promise land to see what it’s all about. What’s hitting me this morning is how doable the journey was for the 12 spies. Yes, the people of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness during their journey to the promise land, but it wasn’t because it was just that far away. The 12 men were able to get there, visit the land, and return apparently fairly easily. Imagine then being Joshua and Caleb, who had seen the promise land with their own eyes, and they even knew the pathway to get there, yet were told to wait 40 years before seeing it again. I’ll be real with you, it would take a lot for me if I was Joshua or Caleb to not just slip out one afternoon and go taste that milk and honey again for myself since I knew the path to get there. This just shows though the faithfulness to God of these two men. That while yes, they physically could have gone to the promise land by themselves, and they knew even how to do it, they remained with God’s people serving God’s people and setting an example of faithfulness for them. Sometimes we too may have the physically capability to do something, and even the plans of how to do it, but God hasn’t called us to that. We may be able to say something hurtful or may be able to quit, but God hasn’t called us to that. Ability doesn’t always equal God’s directions for you. Faithfulness to the Lord is demonstrated when you possess the ability to be unfaithful but chose to follow Him instead. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2294 

Chapter 14

And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed?” Numbers 14:40-41 – Faithfulness is not following God in the ways He was directing you before He gave you new directions. The old directions may be easier and better, but following them now doesn’t mean anything if the directions have changed. Of course going into the promise land now sounded better than dying in the wilderness, but they refused to follow the easier, better directions when it was still an option for them. Know God is giving us a chance to follow Him today in a unique way. While it may not seem appealing at first, the new directions we get as a result of not following the first ones may be even less appealing. Let’s follow God’s lead then regardless of the appeal factor to us. His plans for us are always purposeful and have good that is created through them. Rather than determining our faithfulness to God on the parts of the plans we can see and understand, choose now to either follow Him or to not. Wherever He leads I’ll go. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1430

Numbers 14 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Numbers 14:1-2 – After hearing the report of the land being filled with strong peoples and cities, and after hearing the persuading from 10 of the spies, this was the nation’s response. This led to the people trying to find a new leader to take them back to Egypt, they sought to stone Joshua and Caleb, and the nation even after hearing God’s judgment on them are now trying themselves to walk into the promise land without Him. This body of “followers” of God sure weren’t following very well. What’s shocking to me too is that this all took place AFTER the 70 elders were selected to help lead the people. Meaning, at the end of the day, the faithfulness of a people is dependent on the faithful walk of each individual, not all on the leaders. We can clearly see the leaders were seeking to live and lead faithfully, but the people weren’t following such a lead. Am I saying then that spiritual leaders are pointless? Not at all, just that they aren’t everything. Of course we need strong, faithful leaders, but we also need strong, faithful followers. If we don’t have both, the story of our church bodies today will mirror much of what we see happening in Numbers 14. So hold your leaders accountable, hold your fellow followers accountable, and hold yourself accountable. If we want to be known as a people after God’s heart, then we need to be a people that truly is going after God’s heart. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2295

Chapter 15

And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. Numbers 15:39 – Do you have anything like this in your story? Something that you can look at to remind you today to follow God and nothing else. For them it was these tassels they wore on their clothing. Now we don’t have to do this, but it’s not off the table either if that could be a way to remind you. For me it’s pictures in my office of past encouraging moments in ministry. It’s pushes me to keep living for God in my own story so I can see more photos like that taken. What then is something you have, or something you can create today, that can be a reminder to you to follow God like your called to today? Anything we can do to help our minds stay on course is good, and anything that does the opposite needs to be taken down. Think on both today, what reminds you to walk well and what causes you to stumble. The more we are aware of both the healthier walk with God we’ll have. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1431

Numbers 15 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ²⁸ And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. Numbers 15:27-28 – Sins unintentionally. What this shows is how sin isn’t determined by any one of us, but determined by God. It’s not what seems right to you or wrong to you that settles whether something is sinful or not for you. That determination is up to the Lord. What’s beautiful though is the grace extended to followers of God when it comes to sin. Where we may be in a place of immaturity in the faith and have no clue that something is a sin, or we may be under the false belief that something isn’t a sin when it truly is, yet God has still made a way for us to find forgiveness for those wrongs. We see in Numbers what the method was for such forgiveness for the people of Israel and we see in Jesus our method of forgiveness. So for sure come away from this passage hearing that anyone can find forgiveness of their wrongs in Jesus if they would only come to Him. He will forgive them of the wrongs they were aware of and cover the wrongs they weren’t aware of. What we should also learn from this passage is to accept that we aren’t the final judge on what a sin is and isn’t. There may be things in your life you are holding over others as sin that scripture doesn’t speak on like you believe it too. There may be things scripture clearly outlines as sin that we don’t want to acknowledge as such. Settle in the truth that God’s grace and forgiveness extends beyond our immaturity of the faith and that we must allow scripture to be the final call on sin. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2296

Chapter 16

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Numbers 16:13 – After a first read of this verse, is it saying they actually got into the promise land and Moses led them out of it? Not at all. The land they are referring to that apparently flowed with milk and honey that Moses lead them away from was Egypt. The place of slavery for them they were calling their promise land. Oh how the enemy wants us to think this way. That life was better and more fulfilling back when sin was our master, not Jesus. Don’t let the present difficulties and lack be tools the enemy uses to deceive you into thinking what God has ahead of you isn’t as good as what sin offered you in the past. That wasn’t your promise land. What God has ahead for those who follow Him is far better than anything our enemy can give us. If you follow Jesus, know you’ve barely begun to taste the goodness that is ahead for us. Don’t let the bitterness of the struggles tear you away from walking toward what’s truly good. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1432

Numbers 16 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO 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. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Numbers 16:47-48 – If you want to see a congregation of people that have issues, look no further than Israel within this chapter. The level of disobedience and the lack of faith is astonishing. For the earth had just opened up and swallowed the people who were causing the rebellion against Moses and Aaron and fire had consumed the leaders of the rebellion, now the people are complaining saying it was Moses and Aaron’s fault the people died. God’s response to such corruption was to begin a plague amongst those leading the charge of unfaithfulness. We see that 14,700 died as a result of the plague yet it could have been many, many more. So why wasn’t it more? Because of what Aaron did. Taking the incense, he ran into the rebellious crowd, towards the deadly plague, stood in the pathway of death, and made atonement for the people. Here we get another early image of what Jesus, their Messiah, would be for them. For Jesus came into this rebellious world, hung on a cross to block death from overtaking us, and became the atonement we need. Jesus stands between the living and the dead and because of Him the plague of our sin is stopped. Thank you Jesus for running into our lives and being our Savior! I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2297

Chapter 17

And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you. Numbers 17:5 – Grumbling caught the attention of God. God knows the toxic effect even something as simple as grumbling can have between people. This is why He stepped in and did what He did with Aaron’s staff, to quiet the grumbling and allow peace to be found. Where then is grumbling present in your story? Is someone not at peace with you? You not at peace with them? What can be done to seek out peace if possible? God teaches us to seek peace with one another as much as we can, the opposite of entertaining grumbling in our mind. Maybe peace today begins with you ceasing your own grumbling about someone. Rather than speaking ill of them, or even just letting your mind dwell on them in a negative way, start by choose to find peace with that person. Pray for them, speak to them if possible, stop complaining about them. If grumbling wasn’t something God entertained we shouldn’t either. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1433

Numbers 17 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO  And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. ¹³ Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?” Numbers 17:12-13 – These two verses conclude the passages where we see a retelling of the disobedience and unfaithfulness of God’s people to God and His servants. They complained about food, leadership, and the whole exile in the wilderness, and now God is settling once and for all who He has put in charge and who they are to follow. Yet instead of a humble bending of the knee in obedience to the Lord, their obedience is one birth out of fear of death. And the answer to their question of if they were all to perish? That all depended on how they handled the message the Lord had given them from then on. They had been given direction of who is in charge, direction on how to live obediently to the Lord, and now was their opportunity to follow. When reading passages like this keep in mind how similar our story is to this. We too were in a life once of walking away from Jesus, disobedient and unfaithful. Yet even in that season God spoke into our story and gave us the pathway to a life with Him and to salvation. What we do now with that message from the Lord is up to us. We can live a life remaining in our sin and find death like we’ve seen over and over within Numbers. We can choose to live in fear of God and see His power as a condemning force. Or we can see the grace of God weaved within His power and His words to us and choose to move forward in a faithful life towards Him. Not because of fear of death but because of gratitude for life. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2298 

Chapter 18

All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. Numbers 18:12 – Never think God doesn’t take care of His own. Here we see God speaking to Aaron and his family, reminding them they will have no inheritance in the land. That said though, God doesn’t plan to leave those serving Him in lack. God says what’s given to me through the offerings of the people I give over to you, to nourish and take care of you in the service of me. And it’s not just the scraps, but the best is given to you. Such is it with us and our service to God today. God promises to provide for the needs of His followers. While the provision is going to look different than in this passage most likely, provision for our needs is still given. Know you’ll be taken care of as you serve. So don’t let your heart worry today. Serve how you’re called to and trust God to provide. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1434

Numbers 18 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. ³¹ And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’ Numbers 18:30-32 – This chapter outlines how the priests and Levites would be provided for since they were given no land inheritance like the other tribes of Israel. Their provision would come from the offerings made to the Lord. Our passage looks at the Levite’s portions. When the offerings came in, they were to take a tithe from the tithe, a tenth of the offerings given to the Lord, and give that to the High Priest as his portion for the work he had been doing for the Lord. What I love though is the remaining part of the passage. The other 9 tenths of the offering were theirs to enjoy however. In their homes, their little ones could eat of it, even for fun they could use it for. We gather a great lesson from this passage when it comes to our possessions. We must first be serving the Lord how God calls us to serve Him. We then must be giving to God all that God askes for us to give Him, whether that be spiritual or physical offerings. Then, with the rest, we should feel free of judgment to use the blessings how we like (outside of sinful ways of using it of course). If we want to enjoy a nice date night with our spouse or buy a new video game to play with our kids or take a getaway with family, using the money the Lord has provided for us, we are free to do so. When we follow the Lord how He calls us to, and when we give the Lord what He asks us of, know He wants us to enjoy the blessings He provides. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2299

Chapter 19

Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. Numbers 19:7 – Often it takes us getting dirty to do all that God is asking of us. Here throughout this chapter it speaks on the process of becoming clean after touching or being around something that has died. Whether you were the one who touched it, or even the one who helped the unclean person in the purification process afterwards, there was a “getting dirty” of yourselves in that. If you’ve been cleansed by the blood of Jesus know we don’t have to worry about getting spiritually unclean by stepping into the mess of someone else to help them. It may though mess up our life in other ways. It may add stress, it may exhaust you, it may even change your perspective on people. It most likely will get messy when you choose to help others, but that’s our calling. If our heart is cleansed by Jesus, but our hands never get dirty helping others, have we truly chosen to follow Jesus’ example? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1435

Numbers 19 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. Numbers 19:9 – Let’s breakdown what’s going on in this chapter. A heifer was taken and offered as a sacrifice outside the camp. As we see in verse 9, the ashes then of this heifer were to be taken to a clean place outside of camp to be saved and used for future purposes. Whenever then there was someone who had sinned and they were separated from the people and God because of this sin, water would be mixed with some of the ashes and this mixture would be sprinkled on them as a part of their cleansing process. Without then this heifer being sacrificed, there would have been no way to make these sinners clean before the Lord. Again, this chapter is alluding to the future sacrifice of Jesus made for all sinners. For we too were once unclean, separated from God because of sin. Then Jesus sacrificed all for us, washing us clean. Without Him and His sacrifice, any hope of salvation and Heaven would be gone. While today we don’t need the sacrifice of animals or the ashes of this heifer to make us clean, we do still need the sacrifice of Jesus in our life to make us right with the Lord. If you have never come to Jesus to have Him wash you clean of your sins, today can be the day. If you have found cleansing and forgiveness in Jesus, be sure to demonstrate your gratitude for that today by how you live. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2300

Chapter 20

Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle. Numbers 20:8 – It’s not only important that you know the full message of God, but that you follow the full message as well. This chapter shows the dangers of picking and choosing which commands of God are ones you’ll hold close to while letting other’s slide. I think of all this as today is election day here in the united states. Remember we are called to love our neighbor, pray for our leaders, and seek peace with everyone as far as it depends on us. Yes that means loving our neighbors that hold greatly different political views than us and even to be praying for whoever is picked as president. If you claim Jesus as your Lord, you don’t get to pick and choose anymore which commands you want to follow. That of course means you’ll find yourself pushed in ways that are uncomfortable many times, but if they are  directions God gave, we need to follow it fully. So today, even if it’s uncomfortable, pray for both parties. Either way it goes, wouldn’t you love to have God strengthening, giving peace, and giving wisdom to whoever is going to lead? I love you, but Jesus loves you mores – Mac – Daily DEVO 1436

Numbers 20 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. Numbers 20:1 – What isn’t clearly laid out in this verse but can be discovered from surrounding verses is exactly when and where this all took place. Where? In a place called Kadesh. But why is that significant? This is the same location many years ago that the 12 spies came back to and reported what they found in the promise land. This is the same location where the nation rebelled and refused to go into the promise land. Now, in the first month of the fortieth year of their wanderings, they have found themselves in the same spot they rebelled so long ago. Has anything changed within the people’s faithfulness to the Lord? In the same place they were when they first rebelled so many years ago, will they make the same rebellious choice again or choose faithfulness to God instead this time? While a situation exactly like this may not happen for us, we can find ourselves faced with a situation where we must choose will we be faithful in it. Possibly this situation was one we found ourselves in before and last time we chose not to be faithful to the Lord in this choice. Today though is your opportunity to demonstrate to God your faithfulness to Him. Yes, in your past, you made the wrong choice, but today isn’t yesterday. You’ve grown, you’ve learned better how to lean on the Lord for help, and today you can make the choice you didn’t before. God is offering you a new path. One of second chances and grace. We don’t have to be defined by our past choices anymore when it comes to God because His grace is sufficient. Make the choice today to follow Jesus that you wish you made yesterday. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2301 

Chapter 21

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. Numbers 21:4 – It’s crazy how easy it is to become impatient on the way. When you can tell things are moving forward in the right direction, but they just aren’t happening as fast as you want them to. As a result we grumble in our minds, ask God why things are moving at the speed they are, and settle in a mindset of discontent. So what should we do? We should do the very thing that sometimes can frustrate us when we hear it, trust in God’s timing. Trust He’s working even when things are moving slow. Take time then to show love to the people that the slow movement ends up putting in your path longer than you expected. Just because things are moving slower to the end goal than you thought doesn’t mean you have to wait on loving people longer than you thought. So don’t settle in discontentment when things move slow. God really is moving and will move in your story when the move is ready. Take advantage of this time then to follow His lead and love those around you in the waiting. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1437

Numbers 21 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. Numbers 21:25 – Don’t settle before you’ve gone the distance the Lord has called you to go. Here the people of Israel begin the defeating process of their opposition to their promise-land-takeover. They, as God said would happen, were victorious each time they followed His lead. Here though we see the people of Israel settle in a land not yet the promise land. They aren’t quite there yet, they are still in the journey to where God’s taking them, and now they settle on the way. At this point thankfully they don’t remain settled, but do keep moving, but we will see later on some of Israel choose this land as their inheritance instead of the promise land. Our message today is then don’t settle when God is still calling you to move. When the journey we’re on is longer, confusing, more difficult, and seemingly never-ending, we can be tempted to “settle” along the way. When Mr. Right doesn’t come, I’ll settle for Mr. He-will-do. When the direction God gives is more than we asked for, we shift over to leading the way instead to a more comfortable for us direction. We settle. We settle for what’s easier and more clear and more attainable in the moment…but it’s not the promise land. Trust if God is continuing to have you take steps beyond where you are right now and if He’s continuing to make you wait for the promise, it’s worth to not get comfortable here and to continue to move after Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2302

Chapter 22

And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.” Numbers 22:30 – First off, yes, it does say the donkey spoke. If you haven’t checked out this story before , read today’s chapter in full! It’s worth it! What can we learn from this verse though? So the donkey speaks and asks Balaam if ever in the past did it behave badly like this without cause. It asked Balaam to look back at all that experiences he had had with it to see if it had ever given off the this impression it was a careless, untrained donkey that needed striking to stay in order. The answer was no, it had never behaved that way before and Balaam should have taken that into consideration before immediately thinking the donkey was messing up. So when life gets uncomfortable and we find ourselves in struggles, do we immediately blame God and assume He’s mad or forgetful in our situation? Yet has He ever shown Himself in our past to be forgetful or one to let His anger rage on us? Maybe then there is something else going on here that we aren’t seeing, just like it was with the angel and the donkey. Take time then when life is suddenly filled with unexpected things to try and see what God is doing before assuming He’s just trying to hurt you. There’s always more going on than we see and God may use unexpected things to open our eyes to it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1438

Numbers 22 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” Numbers 22:20 – This is an odd chapter for sure, and beyond simply because there is a talking donkey within it. We have curses being asked for and a seemingly confusing set of directions given by God with punishments being given for no reason. What must be focused on in a passage like this is God’s words here in verse 20. “Only do what I tell you.” This was the source of Balaam’s troubles, for he didn’t do only what the Lord said to do. Yes he went when God said go, but he refused to stop when the Lord was clearly getting his attention with the angel to stop. Things that should have been red flags for someone who had conversations with the Lord before were taking place, but he kept pushing through. Many commentators take this as evidence that Balaam’s heart was for selfish gain and honor through doing what King Balak wanted, and that heart was one unpleasing to the Lord. What can we gather for us today from this unique story? The command given to Balaam is our command as well, only do what God tells us to do. Move, but when God begins to say stop, stop. Speak, but when God says be still, be still. While it may seem doable to keep going, that’s not what God has called you to do. Be willing to look for the red flags God will use to grab your attention, even if they are unusual red flags. We should seek to have a heart that only desires God’s path for our story, even if another path will provide more earthly gain. For the path of following the Lord may not earn you the same wealth and honor in this world, but following the Lord will result in people hearing the good news of Jesus and possibly placing their life in Jesus’ hands. Choose which is most important to you and follow that path. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2303

Chapter 23

But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” Numbers 23:26 – It didn’t matter the outcome for him, Balaam was going to say what God told him to say. Even if that meant repeatedly going against the will of a king that could kill him at any moment. I’ve sat down with a few people these last few days who have expressed the pushback they have gotten, or seen others close to them get, for expressing their beliefs and values on certain things. Comments are filled with anger and vile things are said because they posted something. In those moments it’s easy to either be filled with anger towards those people or to let those anger filled comments direct how you share about your beliefs in the future. I’m not saying to be rude about how you present your beliefs, careless of how it may impact someone, but I am saying to share when God tells you to share. If God has put it in your heart to share something, share it. Even if you know it isn’t the most popular way to think amongst your social bubble, if God is leading you to say it, say it. As with Balaam, while it may not be what some want to hear it may be a blessing to someone else. Say then what God leads you to say and allow yourself to be a blessing to someone. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1439

Numbers 23 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19 – This response was given by Balaam to King Balak after the king requested he approach God again because he didn’t like the first answer. Balak wanted a curse to be put on Israel, and after Balaam spoke with the Lord it was clear that wasn’t God’s plan. Instead of accepting God decision, the king chose to move to a new location to ask God again from there, hoping the decision of God would change because the location of the asking changed. After this second request is where we see God responding with our verse. God isn’t like us. He doesn’t lie and doesn’t change His mind after He has spoken something into being. A different location of request or different manner of asking it won’t produce a different answer if God has already established His word. This message is important to remember when it comes to what God has spoken into our lives to do. If He has said no to something in your life, asking again or asking in a different manner isn’t going to change His answer. If He has said go, you can try asking from a different mountaintop for a different answer from God, but you won’t find one. This message goes even a step further when it comes to salvation. God has spoken His way for how salvation will work, and we can try coming to Him in all different ways and approaching Him in all different manners, but His word has been spoken. Only through Jesus can we find salvation. We may be fickle and change our minds, and even change direction after we’ve already spoken, but this isn’t the Lord. Let’s seek to be at peace with whatever word the Lord speaks. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2304

Chapter 24

When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. Numbers 24:1 – Of course we should always be seeking out what God’s direction for us is, but there can come a point when we continue the searching too long when the movements forward should have already began. See Balaam didn’t go searching once again when he already knew what God’s plans were. Instead he moved forward sharing the message he was given. Sometimes we can be in the praying/seeking out God’s will stage too long. We get the answer from God, yet due to the discomfort it may bring or it just wasn’t what we wanted the message to be we choose to “keep praying about it” when we should have begun moving. We should always be in prayer over our steps and when God gives us the directions we need to begin moving on that path. What then is a path you know He’s given you clear direction to go down but you haven’t taken that first step yet in? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1440

Numbers 24 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO …and he took up his discourse and said, “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened…Numbers 24:3 – Oddly enough, the word “opened” in this passage is debated for it could be translated “closed.” Those are complete opposites from each other, wouldn’t that be important to make sure we have the right understanding of the passage? In all actuality, using either word still portrays the meaning of the passage, so no need to stress over translation. The meaning is that Balaam’s eyes were opened to what God was showing him. It also means then his eyes were closed to the worldly ways of seeing things like other men at this time for he was seeing what God was showing him. Opened to the Lord, closed to the world. This should be how we seek to see. While our story for sure will look different than Balaam’s, we should seek to have eyes opened to what God is showing and closed to what the world is showing. How can we today do this? Choosing to find yourself in scripture and in prayer, searching out for what God is doing, are wonderful means God has given that He can use to open our eyes. Also choosing to disconnect from certain sinful, worldly things that are distracting you from gazing at the Lord will help in this. Having eyes opened to the Lord begins with opening your eyes to what God has already given us to look at and closing them to the things that take our focus off of Him. Know God wants to be known by us and wants His will to be known by us. He wants us seeking His face and having our eyes opened to Him like this. Choose then today to gaze upon Jesus so He can open your eyes to all that He is doing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2305

Chapter 25

Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Numbers 25:11 – God’s jealousy is focused on Him wanting us to serve Him and only Him and when we give the worship that should only be directed to Him elsewhere, that’s when His jealousy is flamed. Phinehas was said to be jealous with God’s jealousy. It meant that he want all worship to only go to God, no where else. What God wanted he wanted. This is the heart we should seek to have. One where when we see worship going anywhere else other than God we feel a fire of this type of jealousy rising within us. Where our desire is to make the only one worshipped in life the God who alone deserves worship. Start today by the examining your own life to see if worship is placed in anyway elsewhere other than God. Let the fire of jealousy burn there first then seek to help those around you to shift the entirety of their worship to God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1441

Numbers 25 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. ² These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Numbers 25:1-3 – After we see God speak His blessing over the people of Israel within the previous chapters, immediately we see the Israelites turn away from worship of Him to worship the false gods of Moab. The women of Moab led the men of Israel astray through lust and caused them to befriend and worship their idols. Something we don’t see until Numbers 31 is that this idea of enticing the Israel men like this to defeat them came from Balaam (Numbers 31:16). God wouldn’t curse Israel, so Balaam gave the idea to seduce the people of Israel away from God with lust and idolatry. Understand our story has an enemy like this too. Someone who wants our worship off of the Lord and our lives lived out for anything other than Jesus. This enemy, Satan, will entice us with every tool he has for his goal is us far away from the Lord. He doesn’t want us in the promise land of the Lord and he doesn’t want us experiencing the fullness that comes within a life after Jesus. Accept the truth you have an enemy and accept the reality he is at work in your story. If then something is pulling you away from things that you know are holy unto the Lord (like pulling you away from church, pulling you away from Christian community, pulling you away from the study of His Word), be willing to pause and really seek out if there is in anyway the enemy’s hand in this. For maybe, after even just a little detective work, you may come to find out that what scripture says in Ephesians 6:12 about our enemy not being flesh and bone is true, that the church and/or Christian you feel at odds with may actually not be your enemy. Don’t let the enemy win in your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2306

Chapter 26

This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730. Numbers 26:51 – I was curious how this number differed from the first census that was taken of the people in the first chapter of Numbers. That count was 603,550 (Numbers 1:46). At first it looks like the people only lost a couple thousand along the journey, but that’s note the case at all. They lost 603,550 people, (Or close to at least). See in verse 64 of our passage today we see God remind us that none of those who came out of Egypt that were counted in the first census would be allowed into the promise land. Only their children, who made the new number taken up in the new census. What we see here is how sin shows no mercy in keeping us from having to deal with its consequences. Sin will keep you far from God’s promise and can even have the effect of keeping others around you from seeing it too. So don’t be deceived in thinking there won’t be a consequence attached to the sin in front of you. There always is and often it causes us to miss the beauty of God’s promise in the next step. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1442

Numbers 26 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Numbers 26:64-65 – Another census was to be taken of the people of Israel. The first was in the beginning of their wilderness time, now one at the end. What was the resulting head counts of both? Census at the beginning = 603,550. Census at the end = 601,730 (Keeping in mind both were counting those 20 years old and up who were able to go to war, and not the tribe of Levi). The difference? 1,820 people less than when they started. Yet we read in Numbers so many times destruction came on the people, how are the numbers so close? For God kept His word, and the rebellious generation that was not allowed into the promise land were the ones destroyed. What’s beautiful though is despite so many lost, and so many turning to sin, God still raised up a people for Himself in the wilderness. While we may read stories of the death of the rebellious, see that life was being birthed even in the wilderness. These are passages we must keep in mind when we read other passages, or even see events in our own life, that seem to counter the character of God we know. When we read and see things that make us question His love or His goodness or His grace, be willing to dwell on the truth God is working on a much bigger frame than we are. He is able to show condemnation to sin and provision to faithfulness at the same time. He is able to bring death and life. His work, while to our eyes may seem too heavy-handed or simply absent of love, is what is needed to bring life and promise. When then the Lord is moving and working, and it just doesn’t make sense how this could be the loving or even righteous thing to do, trust if God’s hand is behind it, its is. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2307

Chapter 27

Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd. Numbers 27:16-17 – Even though Moses was not allowed to step into the promise land, he cared deeply that the people still had the support and leadership they would need so they could step into the promise land. Our hearts should grow to desire the the provision of others even if we ourselves don’t get the same. I’m sure there was a desire in Moses to actually move into the promise land with the others, yet that didn’t hold him back from wanting the best for the others. How can you then today be praying for the best in other’s life even if you yourself are still stuck in your own wilderness? Trust God has a plan for your story even now, but while we wait to step into whatever that is be praying and hoping for the best for others. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1443

Numbers 27 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.’ Numbers 27:8-11 – This whole command given by the Lord started because a family within Israel had no sons, but only daughters, to receive the Lord’s inheritance. Moses though wasn’t sure how to handle such a situation so he brought it before the Lord. God directed Moses to give the inheritance to the daughters. And if in other case where there wasn’t daughters, to brothers. And no brothers, to another source, and if that source wasn’t there, here’s another source you can give it to. God’s desire was for them to receive His promise. Clearly with this command God wasn’t promising an inheritance, but just looking for anyway to get out of giving it to them. He was making it impossible for them NOT to receive His blessing. Know God’s heart is for us to possess the good things He provides, not to strip those things away from us. He’s not talking up His blessings in scripture, getting us excited, getting us to sacrifice for Him, and then pulling a fast one on us and leaving us with nothing. That’s not our good, good Father. He gives, and provides, and He blesses. Yes, God will take away, but even in the taking He continues to provide in other ways. Our God is a God who longs for us to be in His promises. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2308

Chapter 28

And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. Numbers 28:3 – In the church today we generally understand the idea of our offerings to God. Often though it ends with our weekly giving at church to help the ministries there. Yet in this chapter God reminds us that offerings to Him should take place in our life much more than that. Even in this verse it said to offer lambs daily. For us, we need to be offering to God daily our obedience and devotion. He needs to have daily our whole heart, not just on the weekends or special holidays. It’s easy to allow the offerings we give at church to deceive us into thinking we’ve given to God all He wants from us. What He wants most, even more so than the money we put in the offering plate, is our heart daily following His lead. Has that been something you offered Him yet today? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1444

Numbers 28 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: ¹⁰ this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. Numbers 28:9-10 – Here we have the Lord outlining for the people what sort of offering He is calling them to give to Him as they step into the land of promise. We read about daily offerings that were to be given, but as we continue, we start to see God directing them to give special offerings at certain times of the month and certain times of the year. Offerings above and beyond the normal, daily offerings. When we read these sort of passages in a book like Numbers, its not a surprise that God would be asking for these sort of offerings beyond just the daily offerings. We know that’s how God worked back then, they had all sorts of times where they needed to give beyond just the normal giving to the Lord. How often though do we get worked up when God asks us today to give beyond just the normal amount to Him? Like we have our daily time in prayer we give God, but He’s pushing us to give much more than that amount of time in prayer to discern His direction in this season. Or maybe its with our time of serving at church. We serve as ___ and also do ___ but God is now asking more of us to meet a need at the church. Just like with the Israelites, we have our daily offerings to God that He is calling us to give to Him. Its not in the shape of a lamb or an ephah of fine flour, but He is calling us to a daily devotional life to Him. There will though be times and seasons where God is going to require more from us. More time, more energy, more of our gifts being used for Him. Settle in your hearts now that whenever the Lord asks more of us, the answer will be yes. For when it was up to Him on how much to give of Himself for us, He chose to hold nothing back. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2309

Chapter 29

On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets… Numbers 29:1 – “A holy convocation.” Meaning they should gather as a large assembly of people, setting themselves apart from the normal daily life in order to give themselves fully over to this time with God. While this chapter isn’t one for us to follow literally anymore, what God is calling His people to do here is something we can still follow. We too are called to gather as a people together, setting ourselves apart from the normal daily life to give ourselves over fully to the worship of God. We are called to “A holy convocation.” Yet when you gather with other believers, say in church or a Bible study, are you treating it as holy? Are you setting yourself and that time apart from everything else? Or are you bringing in thoughts about work, stuff going on later in the day, or even just lunch afterwards in with you during this time? It’s one thing to gather together as believers, it’s another thing to treat that time as holy. You can have the largest of “convocations” yet it remain unholy. While in these gatherings you can’t make anyone else treat it as holy, be sure to treat it as holy yourself. Set that time wholly over for God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1445

Numbers 29 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall not do any ordinary work… Numbers 29:35 – This phrase of “You shall not do any ordinary work” appears multiple times within our passage that is an outline of the offerings to be given during these unique and special times of the year. God showed them what sort of sacrifices needed to be given on the altar, but also commands of them another sacrifice. A sacrifice that every person was not only allowed to make to God, but required to make. A sacrifice of not doing your “ordinary work.” These times, just like the Sabbath, were meant to be for the Lord. Your normal grind, your typical daily tasks, they were to be handled differently within these times. This setting aside their normal work opened the doors for these feasts and offerings to become holy. It wasn’t tainted with distractions or worldly cares, all that was set aside for a time for these were times set aside for the Lord. As I right this, I’m a couple hours away from our church gathering for our Sunday morning services. I have to ask myself, how is my coming to the Lord today different? Am I setting aside my ordinary work so I can be fully present today and fully giving to the Lord a holy sacrifice? As we come together with our brothers and sisters in Christ to worship the Lord today, seek to set aside your ordinary work. The concerns at the office can be dealt with later and the plans for next week can be planned later. Of course, if there are things that need to be brought to the Lord for help and direction, bring those into your time with Him, but if it truly is just your “ordinary” grind trying to distract you from the Lord today, then set that aside. Let today be holy unto the Lord and let Him have your full heart and devotion today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2310

Chapter 30

Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void. Numbers 30:13 – While this isn’t at all what this passage is speaking on, my mind went immediately to our relationship with Christ after reading these verses. The church is called the bride of Christ. We, as the bride of Christ, have also in our past vowed ourselves over to sin and given ourselves to the consequences it brings. Jesus though stepped into our story and made that vow void. He made it possible for us to not be under the vow to sin we made and possible to not deal with consequences of that vow. The question then for you is has Jesus broken the vow you have to sin yet? Has He made your vow void? Know He is ready to welcome you to Himself and set you into a lifetime with Him. Let Him make your vow to sin and death void. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1446

Numbers 30 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her. Numbers 30:5 – Chapter 30 is all about vows being made and the allowance of fathers/husbands to oppose certain vows being made. We can take away a few things from this chapter. One, see how truly important it is to the Lord that we keep our word. A character trait of the Lord is trustworthiness, and as imitators of His we should seek to be trustworthy in all we do. When you speak then, whether in private or in public, follow through with what you said and show yourself to be worthy of someone’s trust. Second, we learn here how our promises and vows, if not handled properly, can truly hurt someone. This is why there was this allowance for fathers/husbands to opposes a vow made. If the daughter/wife made a vow that would impact the family in a hurtful way or made a vow that would hurt themselves, they could oppose it and nullify it. Example, if the daughter made a vow to give away their family estate, the father could oppose it because it would cause the family massive loss if kept (and remember, vows were important to God, so if not opposed, they would have to bear the weight of such a vow). Scripture then is teaching us to think about others when making promises and commitments. How will this affect them? What will happen to them if I don’t keep my word? Am I truly able to keep my word to them like I said I would? These are questions we need to be asking before we commit ourselves to someone for our words can greatly impact others. Takeaway then from our chapter? Our word is important to the Lord and before we make commitments we must be willing to think of how those words/actions will impact others. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2311

Chapter 31

And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord. Numbers 31:54 – Not a man lost in battle and an abundance of provision left for the people. That is something to be thankful for and that’s exactly what Moses and Eleazar were, thankful. And they expressed that gratitude by bringing their offering to God. If you then were to take a count of everything you still have after all the battles you’ve gone through would it be something worth showing God some gratitude over? Maybe you have lost some in the process and the provision afterwards wouldn’t be considered an abundance. You though are still here, still standing, still have provision for the day, still have loved ones in your story, and still have the promise of eternal life with Christ. We really do have so much to be thankful over. Let’s be sure  God knows our level of gratitude by the way we give back to Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1447

Numbers 31 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.” Numbers 31:48-49 – A massive battle takes place with the people of Israel in our chapter against the nation of Midian. Why did Israel go up against Midian? In Numbers 25 we see how the women of Midian were used to lure the men of Israel away from God because Balaam couldn’t curse them, and all this was based of the directions given to them by Balaam (see Numbers 31:16). Notice though the message of the commanders in our passage, not one man is missing from our side. In their 40 year journey, when they turned to sin, hundreds and thousands of people perished, but in this chapter we see Israel following the directions the Lord gives and what’s the end result? Not one is missing. Rejection and disobedience to the Lord will lead to our death, but a faithful obedience and acceptance of the Lord’s way will lead to life. Don’t be deceived by the lures of this world seeking to tell you a different message. The beauty of scripture is we get to see story after story of people making both choices, God or the world. We see over and over the same result of life when the choice was the Lord and death when the choice was the world. We can be naïve and believe our story will be different than the hundreds of generations before us, or our story will be different now this time we turn to sin rather than how it worked out last time, but the truth is our story will end the same. When we turn from the Lord and turn to sin, we’ll find despair and death. In Jesus though we can find hope and life. Make the choice we see Israel made in chapter 31 to finally follow through with the direction the Lord gave them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2312

Chapter 32

Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.” Numbers32:16-17 – They were willing to leave their precious things behind them for awhile to help their brothers step into all that God had for them. This heart is one we should seek to have concerning our brother. Where maybe yes, we’ve seen and stepped into our promise from God, yet our brother hasn’t. He hasn’t walked through it, seen it, or even taken the first step into it. We though take up arms to help him begin that journey and take hold of the promise God has waiting for him. How can you help someone else today step into God’s promise for them? Invite them to church, pray with them, or buy them coffee and have a real conversation with them are just a few ways to begin. Help them see there is something better in Jesus they could be running to and make sure they know you’ll run with them all the way. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1448

Numbers 32 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? ⁷ Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? Numbers 32:6-7 – The people of Israel are about to end their journey in the wilderness and finally enter into the promise land. Yet before stepping in, a couple tribes look at the land they just conquered, lands that weren’t a part of the designated land God was promising them, and asked if they could claim this as their inheritance portion. Whether this request was made selfishly because they didn’t want to go into the promise land (like Moses accuses them of) or of a right heart to simply have land that was good for their lifestyle is unclear. Moses though brought up a good point. If you do this, and refuse to step across the Jordan with your brothers to fight, you are going to discourage them from going over too. Your actions will cause your brothers to not want to step into God’s promise. This is something we must be careful to not do. We can by our actions or words cause those around us to not lean into all that God has for them. For example, see how children who don’t have parents prioritizing church have so often even less of a desire for attending church themselves when on their own. Or how a friend, who turns to sin, can influence an entire friend group into destructive choices. If sin ONLY affected you, then maybe some of the sin we commit you could in your mind blow off as not that bad to do, but our sin never only effect just us. In fact our choice to say yes to sin can cause someone to make the choice to say no to God. Be wise then in how you handle sin in your story and be willing to see the damage beyond you it can/will cause. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2313

Chapter 33

These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Numbers 33:1 – While this can be an easy chapter to skim through due to all the hard to read names of the cities, we can grab something special from it. Every city named was a step further away from the slavery they were once in and a step closer to finally stepping into God’s promise. Throughout the journey they faced loss, hardship, doubts, and struggle, yet they eventually still got to the land God promised to them. What would your stages look like? Stages from who you used to be to who you are today? Every step you’ve taken is a step away from the past slavery and a step closer to God’s promise. In your journey you too have faced loss, hardship, doubts, and struggles, but look at where God has taken you so far? When then you are in a new stage of difficulty take time to remember all the stages you’ve been through so far in the journey and how God has worked in them. If God helped you at that time then know He’s present to help again. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1449 

Numbers 33 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴ while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. On their gods also the Lord executed judgments. Numbers 33:3-4 – This chapter shares with us step by step the different locations Israel settled in their wilderness time…so yes, a lot of unfamiliar and complicated to pronounce names for us. Yet in our verse above, look at what God was able to do day one of their journey. Focus on the last phrase about the gods of the Egyptians. God brought judgment upon them. The “gods” of the Egyptians were many. For the royalty in Egypt, especially Pharoah, would have been thought of as a god to the people. Livestock and beasts of the field were often thought of and connected with gods. They also had many idols of stone, wood, and metal they worshipped. Yet all these gods were put to shame in the events of the Exodus. Not a one could stop the movements of God. The power, or truly the lack thereof, of these gods were revealed to all the people of Egypt and Israel for they could not stop what God was doing. When God then reveals the power, or lack thereof, of things we put our trust in today, do we acknowledge the truth that those things can’t provide like God can for us? When it’s revealed to us that a relationship with a person can’t be enough to sustain us in life, do we turn to our relationship with Jesus instead? When it’s revealed money or our talents or our efforts aren’t enough to get us through, do we turn to Jesus instead? When God opens our eyes to the lack of power these things we can places as “gods” in our life have, let’s open our hearts more to Jesus. For He truly is the only one that can provide like we need and offer the salvation for our souls. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2314

Chapter 34

Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.” Numbers 34:13 – Their promised blessing was easy for them to see. It was land with borders. They could literally step into it and walk the length and breath of the land. It wasn’t hard for them to see the blessing and the work God had done in their story. Yet sometimes when we think about the promises of God to us it may not be as easy to see. Like eternal life doesn’t have western border we can see Iike their land did. Or things like peace and joy can’t really be seen. Yet take even a moment to look around right now and think of all the promises God had to come through on to make  where you are at a reality. While the promise of eternal life isn’t able to be fully seen yet, we can see how much God has filled our lives with the products of His promises to us. So look at the fulfilled promises He’s already led you into and trust Him with the promises you can’t see yet. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1450

Numbers 34 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders). Numbers 34:1-2 – The Lord is marking out the borders for the people of Israel once they get into the promise land. Now our focus with the passage should be on the vast amount of blessing God is giving them as He is marking out the borders. The land God has promised to them is vast and wonderful for them and this vast blessing should be the focus. What stood out to me though beyond that was the truth that even the promise land had borders. There was a north, south, east, and west border to the land. The promise land wasn’t the whole of the earth, meaning while the promise was vast, everything wasn’t included in it. In our walk with the Lord, let’s keep this in mind as well. The promised life we gain by following Jesus is vast and wonderful, and it is beyond anything this world can offer. It does though have borders. Meaning while we are given so much with this life with Jesus, not everything in this world is ours to take hold of now that we are with Jesus. The sinful things of our past aren’t within the borders of God’s promise for us. The sinful mindsets we had about life and ourselves prior to coming to Jesus aren’t withing the borders of God’s promise either. There are things that used to be in our life, that used to be within our “borders” when sin was our master that can’t be in our borders now that we follow Jesus. Let’s enjoy the beautiful blessings within the borders of God’s promise and leave our old life behind us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2315

Chapter 35

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. Numbers 35:10-11 – God knew ahead of time there would be reasons for disunity that would arise among His people. Due to His desire for peace between His people He set up ways so they could dissolve the tension and find peace, all before the reason of tension even took place. In our story God has given us in scripture ways to resolve the tension we have with others in order to find peace. He’s given us safe places in the church to run to and leaders who can help in the process. He’s given us the prime example of Jesus to show us how peace can be found between the hurt and the one who hurt. The question asked of you is will you seek out this peace or be like the one in our passage that lies in wait to avenge his hurt? While the hurt caused by someone else is real, it very well could be unintentional. Yet the way you respond to that hurt can either bring healing or bring a wedge that will create a divide bigger than you can imagine. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1451

Numbers 35 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. Numbers 35:25 – This chapter is primarily focusing on something God established among the people of Israel known as cities of refuge. While murder was still a very possible action that could be taken by someone, accidental deaths also still occurred. To give the individual a chance to prove their innocence if someone accidently died by their hands these cities were established where they could flee to. There they could be heard out and have their case examined by the congregation. This was a beautiful concept God set up for it opened the doors to grace, justice, and unity to found even within a horrible situation. When thinking about what these cities of refuge were to the people of Israel, this is what Jesus has become for us. A place we can run to, a place we can find refuge in, and a place we can find a clearing of our guilt. The one difference is we aren’t innocent like the ones fleeing to these cities. They accidently killed someone while we have purposedly walked into our sin over and over and over again. If we stood before the Father, we would be deemed guilty of death…But God. Thankfully that’s not how our story unfolds because of Jesus. Even guilty we can come to Jesus for refuge and find mercy, grace, forgiveness, and salvation. As we step into Holy Week, keep this idea of Jesus as your city of refuge and source of mercy. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2316

Chapter 36

The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. Numbers 36:7 – God’s plan does not include you losing your inheritance. We see here in this chapter how God was not going to let these ladies lose the blessing God had stored up for them. When then it comes to our inheritance from God, it’s handled the same. Our promised blessing of eternal life when we place our faith in Him is sure and no one is going to steal that away from us. It is secure and safe in Him. The question then is since it’s secure how are you going to use it? Your eternal life with God started the moment you placed your faith in Him, so what are you doing with that life? Are you helping other people step into the inheritance God has waiting for them? Know your inheritance is safe with God, go now and use it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1452

Numbers 36 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. Numbers 36:13 – Today we are wrapping up the book of Numbers and this final verse truly sets the tone of what this book was about. The Lord spoke, He gave His commandments to His people, then the people had a choice to make. Do the reject the command? Do they follow yet grumble the whole way? Do they submit to the leadership of the Lord and follow His commands faithfully? We see all these options play out in the book and each path’s consequences as well. Rejection of the commands equaled waiting and wondering and never being able to step into God’s promises. Grumbling resulted in a heart posture that was not pleasing to the Lord and His wrath was quickly shown. Yet, those who followed the lead of the Lord, what happen with them? They received food when they needed food, water when they needed water, victory when they needed victory, freedom when they needed freedom, and they got to step in and flourished in their promised land. The book of Numbers reveals to us so clearly how important it is for us to take seriously and follow the commands the Lord has established for us. If we want to step into the promise we see told to us in scripture, we then are called to live a life of obedience to the words of command in scripture. Choose today a life of following the words of the Lord for you will be choosing a life of promise. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2317