AUGUST 5, 2022 Numbers 11:31 Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. In response […]
AUGUST 4, 2022 Numbers 11:25-26 And it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the […]
AUGUST 3, 2022 Numbers 11:16-17 So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will […]
AUGUST 27, 2022 Numbers 16:21-22 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?” Once again, we see the faithfulness of Moses, not only toward […]
AUGUST 2, 2022 Numbers 11:10-11 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant?” Anyone who has been involved with ministry any length of time knows that it […]
AUGUST 1, 2022 Numbers 11:6 “But now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” As I mentioned in the previous devotion, God always gives us what we need but not everything we want, necessarily. In fact, it is my view that most of those times when He gave His people what they […]
JULY 31, 2022 Numbers 11:5 “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” Can you imagine being thrust into a situation that, as far as the natural eye is concerned, there is no source of food and water? On the other hand, […]
Moses observed that the children of Israel were an innumerable host, like the stars of heaven. This was the fulfillment of a promise God had made to Abraham.
One night Abraham was in his tent when God appeared to him in a vision and said, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1). Abraham objected that a reward was of little use to him since he had no heir to give it to. Then the LORD took Abraham outside the tent and showed him the myriad stars splayed across the nighttime sky. The LORD said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. … So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5). It was this promise that Abraham believed and God credited to him as righteousness.
In Deuteronomy 1 the promises God made to Abraham in the Negev were about to be fulfilled. The children of Israel had multiplied into a host that Moses likened to “the stars of heaven in number” (Deuteronomy 1:10).
Though the hosts of Israel might seem innumerable as the stars, God knows each person individually. The Psalms say, “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them” (Psalm 147:4). With God, no person is inconsequential. He knows each of us by name.
When the people of Israel struggled under the bondage of the Assyrian and Babylonian exile, they felt that God not longer saw them. The people said, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God” (Isaiah 40:27). The prophet Isaiah responded by telling the Israelites to look up into the nighttime sky and see the stars:
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)
If God marshals the starry host, shepherding them so that not even one of them escapes His notice, He also watches over and cares for the people who are like the stars of heaven. Not one of them is missing before Him.
Devarim – ×“×‘×¨×™× : “Words” Torah : Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 Haftarah : Isaiah 1:1-27 Gospel : Acts 1-2
JULY 30, 2022 Numbers 11:4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?” In the previous devotion we spoke of the fire that broke out among those who lived in the outskirts of the camp. To be a […]