Today's Reading: Numbers 35

 

Jesus, Our City of Refuge

Among the settlements of Israel, there were to be six cities appointed as cities of refuge, or sanctuary cities.  Three on either side of the Jordan River placed strategically through the land so that...

Today's Reading: Numbers 34

 

Boundaries of the Land

In today’s passage, the LORD speaks to Moses and gives him specific instructions for marking off the boundaries of Israel when they move into the Promised Land.  God promised that He...

Today's Reading: Numbers 33

Barbs in Your Eyes

The travels of Israel from bondage in Egypt to freedom in Canaan often symbolize the journey of the follower of Christ.  We too were once trapped in bondage.  Bondage to sin and a life of spiritual scarcity and emptiness.    When we received Christ into our lives, we were miraculously delivered from that life and set on...

Today's Reading: Numbers 32

 

Your Sin Will Find You Out

If you received an anonymous letter in the mail that simply read, “I know what you did,” what is the first thing that would come to your mind?  Is there some unconfessed sin from your past that you haven’t dealt with?  Or, worse, is there some “secret” sin in your present life that you think no one knows about?

Jesus said, "That which is done in secret shall be shouted from the housetop” (Luke 8:17).  

In Hebrews 4:13 we read "Everything is open and naked before Him with whom we have to do."  There really is no such thing as “secret sin.”  You may think...

Today's Reading: Numbers 31:25-54

 

Remembering God's Victories

Following their great victory over the Midianites (in which no Israelite lives were lost) the people come together for a memorial of thanksgiving to God.  So thankful for God’s protection, the people freely and generously offered up a portion of the goods seized in...

Today's Reading: Numbers 31:1-24

 

Purified by Water and Fire

One of Moses’ final acts as the leader of Israel was to avenge the Midianites, who had caused the children of Israel to sin against the Lord. God is taking out judgement against the Midianites...

Today's Reading: Numbers 30

 

Don't Break Your Vow

A vow was a pledge that a person made, whether to God or to a fellow human being, to carry out some specifically stated action. The vow usually involved swearing an oath in the name of God. When a man made a vow, he could not...

Today's Reading: Numbers 29

 

Moses - Man of Fidelity

The importance of Moses to all of Israelite history cannot be overstated. He was the faithful messenger of God, the instrument through which the Law was given.  His role was both extremely difficult and profoundly simple.  Take the words that God...

Today's Reading: Numbers 28

Celebrating Your Pentecost

As the time drew near for the Israelites to settle in their new land, Moses stressed the need for constant devotion to God through the various sacrifices and festivals.  This great feast day was known as “Shavout” in Hebrew.  We know it as the “Festival of First Fruits” or as the Greek rendering, “Feast of Pentecost.”  Shavuot is usually celebrated...

Today's Reading: Numbers 27

 

Qualified for Ministry

A major preparation for entering Canaan was the appointment of a new leader to take Moses’s place.  Here, the Lord reveals to Moses and to the people the identity of that leader.  He announces the name of the man who has been called to lead the Israelites for the remainder of their journey to...

Today's Reading: Numbers 26:35-65

 

Is God Fair?

Apportionment is the process of dividing limited resources into a fair distribution.  When my kids were young and had a resource to share (say, a piece of chocolate cake), we would always let one child divide the resource in half and the other child decide who gets which half.  The child dividing...

Today's Reading: Numbers 26:1-34

 

God is Filled with Unfailing Love

In today’s passage, God instructs Moses to take a census of the people for the second time.  Moses’ obedience to God is demonstrated by delegating this task to the priests and leaders of Israel.

There are a lot of weird happenings along the Israelites’ journey—including that episode with the talking...

Today's Reading: Numbers 24 & 25

 

A Star Shall Arise from Jacob

In Balaam’s final prophecy, he announced that a STAR would come out of Jacob and a SCEPTER out of Israel.  He is predicting that a great king is coming who will crush all of His enemies.  What an amazing prophecy!  This diviner from Pethor is given...

Today's Reading: Numbers 23

 

God Is Not A Liar

Balaam, the diviner from Pethor, finally speaks out.  But his words are like nothing he's ever spoken before.  This time, the LORD put the words in his mouth.  

Something inside of him wanted to speak the words he had agreed to.  His arrangement...

Today's Reading: Numbers 22:22-41

 

Speak Only What God Has Spoken

God had previously spoken to Balaam.  He told him not to go along with king Balak’s plan to curse Israel.  Balaam heard him loud and clear, but decided to “tempt fate” and go along anyway.  As he went, he had one of the most amazing and terrifying encounters with God recorded in Scripture.  First, his donkey stopped. Then Balaam struck the donkey to get him going again.  Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and he spoke in human language.  Then the most amazing thing happened, Balaam’s eyes were miraculously opened to the spirit world around him, and he saw “The Angel of the LORD”. Wow!  Just wow!

Prior to meeting the Angel of the LORD, Balaam was spiritually blind.  As a “diviner,” he had spent his life dabbling in spiritual things, attempting to see into the spiritual world. He used to speak whatever “spiritual lingo” the people wanted to hear.  He made his living as a fortune teller by collecting the “diviners fee” from his gullible customers.  But he was still blind.  Until the day he “was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” (2 Peter 2:16)

After this encounter, Balaam’s view of the spirit world changed.  His convictions changed.  His passion for truth changed.  His very life was altered by this encounter with the Angel.  He realized that only God’s words are true.  And he became passionate about speaking only the “word that God puts in my mouth.”

It is the same for us.  The moment we meet and receive Jesus by faith, our eyes are opened to the truth of the spiritual world.  And God places a fire inside of us.  A growing passion to speak His truth.  “For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)  So, speak!  Let it out!  Speak the word that God puts in your mouth.  Don’t hold it in.

As Jeremiah the prophet said, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Today's Reading: Numbers 22:1-21

You Can't Curse What God Has Blessed

The children of Israel have moved and are now camping in the plains of Moab just across the Jordan River from Jericho.  When Balak, the king of that region, saw the huge mass of Israelites that had...

DAILY BIBLE BLOG - "A Word From The Word"

A Word from the Word

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