Numbers 16:1-18:32Contentment. We live in a culture that seeks to breed discontentment with our stuff, with ourselves, and even with our spouses/families. The lie that somehow our lives would be better if our circumstances changed has been around forever. In our passage today we read about the Kohathites led by Korah who were assigned the role of carrying the tabernacle from camp to camp. They loo...  Read More

Numbers 14:1-15:41How do you respond to the evil and wickedness around you? God gets to a point where he is ready to annihilate the nation of Israel and start over again, but Moses inter‐ venes. God is ready for justice, but when Moses petitions for God to forgive, he relents. It is a strange interaction, but one that happens multiple times in the Bible. We have seen this when Abraham petitions Go...  Read More

Numbers 11:1-13:33God never gives us more than we can handle. This is a popular phrase that is not actually in the Bible. It is the belief that God will never make our lives too difficult, painful, or hard —that life will be a breeze. The statement actually reflects far more of a 21st century American perspective than it does of anything in the Bible. Despite the newness of this phrase, a similar ...  Read More

Numbers 6:1-27; Numbers 10:1-36We all want to be blessed. The opposite of blessing is curses and no one wants that. Yet often we tie blessing solely to material prosperity and, if that is our definition, then we will often feel like blessing is far from us. Numbers 6:22-27 reminds us that what God determines as blessing is often different than our perception of blessing. The priests were to pronou...  Read More

Numbers 4:1-5:31I'm sorry. This short statement is one of the important phrases for us to learn; the ability to apologize. We constantly wrong people in word and deed, so it is essential that we learn to ask for forgiveness. This involves admitting a wrong and asking that our wrong be covered. In Numbers 5:5, we are reminded that ultimately all our sin is against God. When we wrong another, we hav...  Read More

Numbers 2:1-3:51It is quickly clear why the book of Numbers is titled as such. It is called Numbers because it deals with lots of numbers. It is easy to get overwhelmed by numbers. When we hear that the population of the world is nearly eight billion or the population of the United States is over three hundred million, those are staggering numbers in which we can get lost. Yet behind the numbers a...  Read More

Leviticus 27:1-34; Numbers 1:1-54 . "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!"(Abraham Kuyper) We so often divide up the world into secular and sacred─things to which God is concerned/attentive, and areas of life irrelevant to God. God’s heart is far different than this perspective; God cares about every...  Read More

Leviticus 25:24-26:46 God places a high value on redemption and restoration as evidenced in His provision of the Year of Jubilee (every 50th year) for the Israelites. The Year of Jubliee presented a fresh opportunity to win freedom from slavery and regain property hard times had caused them to lose. In non- Jubliee years, God made provision for redemption through the kinsman-redeemer, a close rela...  Read More

Leviticus 23:1-25:23 Sleep is a wonderful gift from God. It is potentially the only time when our body, mind, and emotions can rest. If you struggle with sleep, you understand just what a gift it is. God's desire is that we would experience rest not only when we sleep but throughout our day. Leviticus reminds us about the times of rest that were commanded by God under the Old Covenant law. Every S...  Read More

Leviticus 20:1-22:33 Imagine being a parent who never disciplined their kids. They punch someone in the face and there are no consequences. They speak unkindly to others and still no response. We would think the parents are foolish to operate this way. Yet when we read passages like Leviticus 20, we may struggle with how God can demand such severe judgment for certain behaviors. In this chapter th...  Read More

Leviticus 17:1-19:37 We are all prone to walling off areas of our life and not allowing God to speak into them. The same was true for the Israelites. In many areas they sought to live according to their own desires rather than conforming to God's commands. This led to the necessity for God to instruct his people regarding sex. We have already seen the destruction that can occur through not heeding...  Read More

Leviticus 14:33-16:34 Entering the presence of God is not to be done lightly. In fact, only one person, one time a year was able to enter God's presence as represented by the Most Holy Place. For this individual (the high priest) to do so, they had to offer a bull, then a goat, wear the proper clothing, light a censer, prepare incense, and sprinkle blood on various parts of the tabernacle. What an...  Read More