Numbers 1-4 “603,550”

Confession: I am currently typing while wearing a Snuggie. Yes, I am a bit horrified by that fact, but the truly terrible aspect of this moment is the fact that it is a Star Trek Snuggie…Someone should probably shoot me.

I feel like a complete dork…but I am the proud owner of something ridiculous…which is pretty cool!

Thank you roommate!

Anyway…tonight I started on the book of Numbers…oh dear.

I was convinced that Leviticus was tough, numbers is worse. In the midst of reading it, I became completely distracted by silly things…like counting the star ships on this snuggie and contemplating breakfast tomorrow…how am I going to get through this?

Numbers begins with a censes of all of the Israelite, adult males. While this wasn’t exactly riveting material, something really did stick out at me. The number of Israelite males (aside from Levites) was 603,550. This means that the total number of isrealites was probably something much more like 14,000,000. What is neat about this number is that it is proof that God was keeping his promise to Abraham that he would turn him into a great nation. The number of Israelites was not close to the number of stars…yet, but they were getting a lot closer!

This reminds me of the many moments back in Genesis when Abraham must have doubted that God could still give him any decedents at all. I am quite certain that he would have been shocked to know that his miracle son Isaac would lead to more than ten thousand decedents. I bet that he would have had a difficult time believing it…but God came through!

God ALWAYS comes through.

What is more incredible about this story is the fact that it was SO only the beginning. Israel would continue to expand and it would eventually include every single follower of Christ.

I bet that God gave Abraham a huge “I told you so!” when he was finally able to see these things!

All of this reminds me that I still need to hold on to God’s promises in my own life, and to trust that he will keep them.

I need to remember that his time is not mine. I need to remember that he sees the entire span of history…and that he knows what he is doing….

Wow we serve a cool God!

Yours in a Star Trek Snuggie…Good night!