Numbers – Chapter 1

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. ³From 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 1:2-3 – The book of Numbers recounts the story of Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai (where they received the Law) to the borders of the Promised Land. It details more than 38 years of the 40 years Israel was wandering in the wilderness. As we step into the book, we know from Exodus and Leviticus that the Law had been fully given to the people, and it’s time to move on from Mount Sinai. What is the first thing the Lord directs His people to do on their journey to the Promised Land? Make an army. They were to count how many men they had among them ready to go to war. Now I wonder if this was even on their radar. For going to a place called the “Promised Land” one might assume the groups needing to be established would be party planning committees and people to build luxury resorts, not an army. While certainly they were being led into their land of promise, battles would still have to be fought to take hold of it. In our life with the Lord, Heaven is our Promised Land and there will certainly be no battles to be fought there. Yet in our journey in this life until we reach Heaven we must acknowledge we are in a war. While it’s a war against an already defeated enemy, it is still battling an enemy that isn’t wanting to admit defeat so he is still seeking to cause havoc. Know then your future as a believer is Heaven, but the journey there will be a battle. We have an enemy that we are to stand up against. Take confidence that the war has been won by Jesus, the enemy’s future is destruction, and that we have the Lord with us today in every battle we face. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3351

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. ³From 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