Getting Our Numbers Straight

Numbers are not my specialty. It is not that I am bad with figures - I can hold my own with others reading a spread sheet - it is just that there are several other things higher on my "to do" list. That is why people like Eric Gustafson and Elaine Pacheco work with me. I need someone around me who wakes up in the morning and can't wait to "reconcile" things. To misquote Tiny Tim in the Christmas Carol, "God bless accountants' souls everywhere."

Still, I have been impressed this week with how much wealth the Book of Numbers offers to anyone who is serious about walking with God. Let me share a few of my favorite "numbers" with you:

One: Numbers 11:4,5 helps us understand that it is better not to whine (or, whinge, as my Brit friends would say) about our dining arrangements. "Then, the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain.'Oh, for some meat!' they exclaimed." 

Many contemporary apologists are embarrassed by God's response to Israel's complaints. However, God had a plan for His people... and it didn't include going back to the slavery they had known. For this plan to be accomplished, the Lord required His people's complete obedience and unwavering trust. In a phrase, He was looking for people who would cooperate rather than complain.

I have to admit, I have been known to make more than the occasional complaint. I admit that I whinge about Su's health situation, or, what is happening (or not happening) on a specific ministry team. Still, I continue to find that getting on board with what God is doing - whether it makes me comfortable or not - is the wisest policy. I need to trust that He has a plan and He knows what He is doing.

Two: In Numbers 14:17-19 I am reminded that patience really is a virtue. "Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed it to be. For you said, 'The Lord is slow to anger and rich in unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin...'"  It sounds anachronistic, but there are many situations in life where we would be better served by patience than by our decisive ability for action.

Instead of reacting to provocation, God chooses to "wait and see" with His people. He knows what He is planning on doing, and He will do it when He is good and ready. I know I can learn from this. Not everything will be fixed the way I think it should be. However, that does not mean that good cannot come out of the situation. 

God's patience is certainly good for me. I would be literal toast without it. My guess is that being patient is also good for me - and for those around me.

Three: There are a lot of explanations for what happened with Balaam in Numbers 22. I have probably heard a number of "authoritative" messages by excellent preachers on the passage. My guess is that I have given a couple myself - all different! Still, as I read it again this week, I was impressed with the fact that God will not tolerate hidden agendas. On the surface, Balaam claimed to do what was right, but on the inside he still wanted to do what was wrong. His pressure point was money - the motive was greed.

There is nothing new about this. When it comes to "numbers," money puts principles under pressure. When we experience that kind of pressure there is a natural tendency to choose the option which is comfortable, profitable and popular. As Stuart Briscoe wrote, "Many a torn heart beats underneath a well-cut suit."

In the political season in which many of us are living (we are praying for Venezuela today!), it can be easy to forget the right choice is that which is good and right and true. Better to be poor and right than wrong and rich.

Four: For all the years that Su has been a mother and grandmother, she has prayed Numbers 6:24-26 over our daughters and grandchildren. I have heard it so often that the meaning can occasionally slip right past me as I listen to the comforting words. This week I was reminded that Israel did not have an "ordinary God" and they were not an ordinary people. Israel showed God's favor to the world by demonstrating that God had given them "His peace." This peace was not meant to be evident just in the good times. Instead that peace was something Israel was meant to enjoy while the stress and hostility continued.

When we choose to follow after God (even in the desert) and trust Him rather than complain, we are going to need His peace. Sometimes, after we have totaled up all the numbers, it is all that we have left.