TIMES IN THE WILDERNESS

By the time the Children of Israel had reached the time period we studied at the end of our Leviticus study they had been out of Egypt for a little over a year.   The Book of Exodus covered the first year of their journey.  The Book of Leviticus covered only a period of one month.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY that is presented in this blog every Thursday. Today we will be studying the first Chapter of The Book of Numbers. If you missed last week’s lesson; you can find it here:  https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/introduction-to-the-book-of-numbers/

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A MONTH

As we studied Leviticus we found out that a lot can happen in a month!

In the Book of Numbers we will examine what happened in the rest of that time; a little more than 38 years.  Numbers contains a lot more details of the whole journey through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan.

THE DESERT IS A DANGEROUS PLACE

The actual Hebrew name for the Book of Numbers translates out to say “in the wilderness.”

No one goes into the wilderness unless they have to.  It is cold in the evenings and hot in the day time.  There isn’t much food and one can starve to death.  It is very hard to find water and one can die of thirst.  Wilderness life is very, very hard.  You are in the elements all the time.  Wild beasts and snakes and poison insects live there.   There has to be a very good reason for a large group of people to travel through the wilderness the way the Children of Israel did.  Without God’s help; no one can survive.

God’s intentions for Israel were to move them to a land called Canaan; they were never intended to stay in the wilderness for very long.  God certainly did not intend for them to live there forever. The wilderness was a temporary place; not a place to stay; but a place to move beyond.

As it was for the wilderness; so it is for the Christian living in the world today.  For a child of God today; this world is not home.  It is a journey to another destination.  A place to move through in order to arrive in eternity.

We all have our wilderness journeys to make.

MOVING STEADILY TOWARD A NEW DESTINATION

Have you ever taken a trip and kept a diary of all that happened to you on your way?

I did this a few times in my life; mostly when I was young and went away to camp.

You might jot down the details of events that you encountered, or the people that you met, or even the thoughts that you had as you took your journey.

Maybe God has shown you things that you would not have seen if you had not left where you were and journeyed to a new destination.

The things that happen to us along the way to another place are usually always significant. It is how we learn to process life in a different way than usual. This is part of what was happening to Israel in The Book of Numbers.

IT IS GOOD TO KEEP RECORDS

The people of Israel traveling through the desert were keeping a journal of significant facts.   They recorded the numbers of the men who were above the age of twenty who were physically eligible and able to go to war.

Those who came after them would always have these records to look back on so that they could remember how significant the sheer numbers of the people were that God brought through the wilderness into the land of Canaan.

The first ten chapters of The Book of Numbers are going to show us a glimpse of about 50 days in time. During these 50 days Moses was organizing the people for the journey to Canaan.

RECORDED FACTS ARE VERY HELPFUL

Maybe the people were asking Moses all of the very same questions which we might be wondering about and discussing as we read through these scriptures.

Where was God taking them?

When would they arrive?

What will God require of them for this journey?

Do these people have what it takes to reach this type of destination?

All of these questions must have come up at some point.  The same thoughts must have crossed the minds of each participant from the people of Israel as they began to leave Sinai and walk toward Canaan.

WHEN MOSES NEEDED ANSWERS

The way Moses always answered such questions was to seek the face of God.  Then and only then he would relay the messages to the people of Israel.

What if we all stopped and took a lesson from Moses?

What if nothing was ever done on this earth until an answer was sought from God?

Can you imagine how different the people of the earth would live?

MOVING ON TOWARD CANAAN

The first part of the journey of God’s holy nation was focused on reaching Sinai and receiving the law.

Now; since that has already happened, this next part of their journey will be about moving toward the land of Canaan in order to take the land for Israel.

FIGHTING FOR THE LAND THAT ABRAHAM BOUGHT LONG AGO

Moses recognized the fact that God’s people possessing this land was God’s will; and that would not happen unless they fought for the land that God was telling them to take.

An army had to be formed.

COUNTING GOD’S FOOT SOLDIERS

The formation of this army began with the counting of the number of men who were able to fight for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Every man who was 20 years old or older and physically able to fight in battle was counted for his tribe.

Only the able-bodied men who were not serving as priest (the priest had the job of holding them up to God for direction and strength and caring for the rest of the people when they were engaged in battle) were counted.   The priest (the Levites) and those men who were disabled and unable to fight in physical battle, the women and the children were not counted in the numbers of each tribe; only the able-bodied men who were not priests and who were over the age of 20.

BECOMING MORE ACCUSTOMED TO BEING FREE

The lifestyles of the people had changed from slavery to freedom.  Their thinking also had to change to match their new status in life.

Being a slave was very different from being an accountable soldier who was considered the head of his own household. The freedom was greater; but the responsibility was also greater.

This is the transformation that God was bringing about in the people as they lived out their wilderness lifestyle in order to form the nation that would come from The People of God’s Promised Land.

Slavery mentality would not work anymore; only the mindset of a good soldier would be fit and able to live in the Promised Land that would become the new home of God’s nation for forming the pattern of all other nations.

This wilderness part of the journey would start this lifestyle transformation for the Children of Israel.

ARE YOU IN TRANSFORMATION TOO?

Where are you on your journey today?

Have you even left Egypt and the bondage of slavery yet?

Are you on your way to God’s Promised Land?

Will you make it to the place where those who follow Christ live?

If you have left the land of bondage from sin and you have begun to follow Jesus to a new destination, a transformation is also happening with your own lifestyle.

This more-modern transformation would be very similar to what was physically happening to this group of soldiers in the wilderness; only what was happening to them physically would be happening to the modern army of Christianity in more of a spiritual way.

Such a soldier would be on his way to eternal life in The Kingdom of Heaven. That would make him a mature member of God’s family; one fit for a battle and one who could take the promises of God which would be separate from the ways of the world and make a new godly nation begin to form from it.

HAVE YOU ARRIVED?

Are you there yet?

These Israelites were just beginning to transform from one lifestyle to the other and the minute Moses divided the tribes out and began to count them; they were enlisted into God’s army in the wilderness.

Most of us following Christ today could say the same; we are on our way to God’s promises of eternal life; but in the meantime; we must survive the wilderness and begin to transform our land into the place that God would desire for it to be.

So many changes have to happen to bring that state about. The very first requirement of us is to stand with our people and be counted.

ARE YOU STANDING FOR GOD?

Are you standing with God’s people and being counted for God’s purposes?

If so; you are on your way to an exciting and totally new existence!

Just as Moses showed those old Israelites; God is going to show us everything we need to know as we walk along the way to our destinations.

We only need to listen to Jesus; just as the people in the wilderness were listening to Moses as their leader.

The first thing we need to do is to stand with our people and be counted.

Once that process begins we begin to get a feel for who we are and where we are going. God will show us the rest if we just keep standing and moving on thorough the dangerous wilderness of the world.

Not one soul will be lost.  The Good Shepherd always makes sure that all of his sheep are in the fold and counted

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