Numbers – Chapter 15

And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses. Numbers 15:36 – Are there certain commands of God you don’t mind following, yet some you struggle to keep? In our passage we have the Lord directing how to handle someone who openly and knowingly sinned against God’s law during Moses’ day. There was a man who on the Sabbath day was found gathering sticks, meaning he was knowingly breaking the law of no work on the Sabbath. God commanded him to be stoned, and what did the congregation do? The stoned him. They seemingly had no problem following this command, yet in the previous chapter we see just how rebellious they were to the Lord and His ways. Certain commands they willingly followed, but others they rejected. We too can find ourselves picking and choosing which commands we’ll faithfully follow. Love the Lord, take care of the needy, sing praises to God; all are commands that we can find ourselves easily following for we enjoy them and can even see the benefit to us for following them. Seeking reconciliation, forgiving your debtors, bearing your cross daily; all are commands that are not so easy to follow but easy to set aside as ones we’ll begin following later in life. Novice how our passage addresses this way of thinking. God isn’t about us picking and choosing which commands we want to get behind. If God said do it, we do it. If God says say stay away from it, we stay away from it. He is God and we are not, which means the One who is deciding which commands to follow isn’t us anymore. From what you know of God’s commands, identify which ones you typically avoid following. Ask why, and ask yourself how you can begin following that command. For our God is worthy not only for us to follow the commands we don’t mind following, but also following the commands we desire to avoid. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3365

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. ²⁸And 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