February 13, 2010

My post today comes from the book of Numbers which is the daily reading in my One Year Chronological Bible.

The Book of Numbers is "Bemidbar" in Hebrew and literally means "in the desert". (Wikipedia)
We find ourselves following Moses as he leads the people through the desert with hopes of entering the Promised Land. Many of the Israelites have either died in the plague or were killed in the conquest of Moab, along with those that have died of natural death. That number was also probably higher than normal under their difficult circumstances. They know they will have to defeat the land of Canaan and set out to take another Census or count of those who would be able to fight in the army. Some tribes have increased, some have decreased, and the Levites have increased greatly. The Levites were not chosen for battle, but instead were the tribe chosen by God to take care of the tabernacle and lead the religious services. In Numbers 26:63-65 we learn that all of the original disbelievers from the first count of the people were now dead. They began the journey, but they did not get to see the Promised Land. Due to their disbelief and complaining, the Lord chose that they not continue on for the promise. In the same respect, he has now told Moses that he will not be able to cross into the Promised Land. Finally, we learn that Moses asks God to appoint him a successor.

¹⁵ Moses said to the LORD, ¹⁶ "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community ¹⁷ to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."

As the Israelites watched their numbers dwindle, I am sure they wondered how they would ever be able to defeat Canaan and enter the Promised Land which has been their goal for all of these years. I have no doubt that they had conversations in their tents about the impossibility of this feat. In fact, God knew their parents had done so and that is why many of them were no longer with them to complete the journey. It is easy when you work very hard at something (especially Kingdom work) without seeing the anticipated results to find yourselves in disbelief that it will ever happen. I think that becomes even more difficult if you know God promised it and you still can't see it. What we see in this story, is that even though the outside of the picture looks dim that the details of the picture prove that God had already worked it out. Yes, He took people away from them but He also gave them people. Those that were left were the redeemed in God's eyes and they were the ones who would see the Promise. Those that had gone before them had literally given their lives for a Kingdom agenda they would never see fulfilled while they were on Earth. Moses would also fall into this category. We know Moses was a great man of God, but due to the area where he did fail God then God did not see it fit that he walk into the Promised Land. Moses accepted this, only asking for a successor so that his people would not be without a Shepherd. I am certain God was ahead of him on this request and we see that Joshua was the chosen Shepherd.

Everything we do for the Kingdom is a small part of the big picture. It truly may be that as we continue working for God that the real Promise is not fulfilled until after we have gone to be with the Lord. Much of our work may be for the sake of our children and our children's children. Someday, it will all come full circle and we will understand things better as we stand praising the Father together. Every action has a reaction, for every cause there is an effect. Some of us will be Moses and lead the people as far as we can lead them until we have to hand our role off to a successor. Some of us will be Joshua who held the role of an intern for many years until finally he was given the greatest role of leading the people right into the Promised Land! Does either seem fair? I don't think God's idea of fair is the same as ours. We look at summaries of stories and try to make assumptions. God looks at the details, the microscopic parts that we can't see with our eyes. He sees all the effects and the reactions before they ever occur.

Trust in the Lord today that you have a role in the Kingdom agenda and whether it is big or small, short or long, it is still important.