Sustaining Through the Years

Numbers 26:51-53…..and63-65 - This was the number of the Israelites enrolled: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred thirty.  The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  To these the land shall be apportioned for inheritance according to the number of names…………  These were those enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who enrolled the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.  Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.  For the Lord had said of them, "They shall die in the wilderness." Not one of them was left, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

 

God had kept a promise of judgment...and had allowed every Israelite that doubted his power to give them the promised land of milk and honey… to die in the wilderness.  The forty years of punishment given by God… was coming to a close and they were at the borders once again…poised for battle….poised to receive the great inheritance promised to their ancestor Jacob.  Only the wise and courageous Caleb and Joshua survived …because of their great faith.

 

They have counted themselves before….in Numbers 1:46….and ”the total number was 603,550.”  Amazing to me that the population is nearly the same….God blessing this new generation as they have wandered in a complete wilderness land…sustaining this people in great numbers from manna and the occasional quail.   Amazing to me that God thought it important at this point…to number and name them once again…to make sure that everyone would know of his power to sustain and bless in spite of hardship.

 

It’s one of those chapters you want to skip….all the names of the tribes and clans listed…important tidbits of genealogy hidden amongst the many names.   I admit…it was hard to read...and glean something personal from those long family trees.  And it was even harder to pronounce all those clan names…it was one of those times I was glad I was reading to myself silently. And if the verses of names only counted the men…..then the total of all the Israelites…men…women…and children was still probably around 2 million.

 

I admit…I sat down this morning with a page of names….lost in the listings of the same twelve tribes….almost the same numbers of each.  I have looked up to the sky more than once this morning to ask God to reveal something wise and relevant to me for my walk with him today…but no epiphanies have come yet.  Maybe I am trying to make it too hard…it is what it is this morning.  God is a God who sustains us in spite of the hardships he allows in our life.  God asks us to take an inventory of what he has done in our lives from one generation to the next…simply so we will know how much he has blessed us!

 

Father…you are so amazing.  I sit in awe this morning that you were able to sustain over 2 million people in a wilderness land….bringing water from rocks…raining bread from heaven every morning…and sending meat like quail for them to eat when they got grumpy.  I thank you for the patience you showed in caring for this people that gave me my faith.  I thank you for the stories of courage an faith…I thank you for every strange name…and I thank you that you never gave up on them…but brought them to the promise you made to their ancestor Jacob. Help me to remember that you are bigger than any problem I have….any problem my friends have...any problem that anyone has.  Help me to seek you like Moses and act on the great promise of so long ago…that you will sustain me through any storm you ask me to walk through in my own wanderings of 54 years now.  Bring me to the edge of my promised land…and show me how to overtake the enemies that stop me from dwelling there with you. Amen.