Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+016

 

Numbers Chapter 16   (ESV)

1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?

 

REFLECTION:

• Moses led the people on their journey out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. However, the people did not always value Moses’ spiritual leadership and guidance.  They often spoke against Moses, and they rebelled, time and again, against his authority.  Korah and all his company weren’t satisfied with serving in the ministries of the Tabernacle, and standing before the congregation to minister to them.  Their ambition was to grasp for the priesthood.
• The role of a good spiritual leader or director in spiritual formation is critical. Every person on the journey of spiritual formation needs good guidance.  Through judgment upon their behavior, God taught the Israelites the importance of spiritual guidance and authority.
• Do I have a spiritual mentor that will help me, encourage me and direct me on my spiritual journey?

 

PRAYER:

If so, thank God for this mentor.  Pray for God’s blessing and protection on him/her.  If not, ask God to bless me with one that will support and accompany me on this journey.

 

HYMN:

All We Like Sheep – www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjOUeEpBgxs

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+015

 

Numbers Chapter 15   (ESV)

37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”

 

REFLECTION:

• Read this passage twice aloud slowly.
• God told the Israelites to add “fringes” to their garments, so they would remember and obey His laws whenever they saw the fringe. By remembering and following God’s laws they would have the strength to avoid following their fleshly desires and greed.  Because they were His set-apart children, God desired holiness in the Israelites.  He wants the same in us.  God exhorts us to meditate on His word constantly and to obey.
• What “tassels” do I put before me to remember what God wants in my relationship with Him? Which ones work best?

 

PRAYER:

If there is one, hold this “tassel” of mine, pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to remind me often to obey God’s word.

 

HYMN:

Thy Word – youtu.be/a6LC8cu03Ig

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+014

 

Numbers Chapter 14   (ESV)

17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

 

REFLECTION:

• Read the passage aloud slowly. Keep in mind that this is the prayer of Moses after ten of the twelve members of the Israelites scouting party to the Promised Land expressed doubt that they could make their home in that land, even with God’s help. (Read the vv 1-24 to learn more about the depths of the Israelites’ doubt.)
• Read the passage again slowly, noting (a) qualities of God that stand out, (b) qualities of Caleb’s response to God, and (c) whatever else comes to mind.
• What impresses me most about God? Why?   What impresses me most about Caleb?  Why?
• How do I respond to God’s willingness to forgive so many Israelites even though He seems to think they do not have the capacity to be used by Him?

 

PRAYER:

Ask God to show me where I fit in this passage.  How might I be tempted to “[turn] a deaf ear”?  How might God be calling me to live a different story – to be one who has “a different spirit” from others, who follows God passionately even though it might involve risks (for example, loving the unlovely, pursuing a career that makes less money, admitting to others the mistakes I’ve made)?

 

HYMN:

Way Maker – www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IxnsqOkmQ

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+013

 

Numbers Chapter 13   (ESV)

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

 

REFLECTION:

• Faith has to do with marrying the Invisible and the Visible. When we engage in an act of faith as Caleb did, we give up insisting that head knowledge is our primary means of understanding.
• Faith isn’t a conclusion we come to simply on the basis of what we see. It’s a conclusion we come to on the basis of who God is.  And that fusing of the Visible with the Invisible gives us a different way of looking at the world around us.
• It’s often said that living by faith is a risky way to live. What isn’t so often said is that living by sight has risks, too.  Even greater risks.  As the story of Joshua and Caleb unfolds in the next chapter, we find that the greater danger wasn’t living by faith but living by unbelief, the way the rest of the nation lived.

 

PRAYER: 

Today’s song was based on Mark 9:14-27 when the father called to Jesus: “I believe, help thou my unbelief.”  Written By Bill & Gloria Gaither.  Use it as my petition to God.

I believe help thou my unbelief,  I’d take the finite risk of trusting as a child
I believe help thou my unbelief, I walk into the unknown trusting all the while

I long so much to feel the touch that others seem to know,
but should I never feel a thing I claim him even so

I believe help thou my unbelief, I walk into the unknown trusting all the while

 

HYMN:

I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief –  https://youtu.be/ZGXdlFF_Lp4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+012

 

Numbers Chapter 12   (ESV)

1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.”

 

REFLECTION:

• Read quietly twice trying to capture Moses’ feelings.
• God punished Miriam and Aaron when they criticized and challenged Moses’ authority. But when Miriam became a leper, Moses did not rejoice in her fate.  Rather, he felt compassion toward her and cried out to God on her behalf.  He was humble, tender, and very loyal.  And he was a man of prayer, a faithful leader for God’s people.
• God’s statement that He speaks to Moses face-to-face is evoked by the jealousy of Miriam and Aaron over Moses’ special relationship with God.

 

PRAYER:

Have I ever been jealous of a person who has received clear, unmistakable guidance from God?  What was this a symptom of?  Ask the Holy Spirit to light up all the dark corners in my heart and to cleanse me clean.

 

HYMN:

Change My Heart Oh God – youtu.be/IlSmG-_eJTU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+011

 

Numbers Chapter 11   (ESV)

1 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

 

REFLECTION:

• Read this passage with an attitude of a spoiled child, a stern father, or a rabble.
• The people found new causes of complaint: a monotonous diet! Every family was wailing at the door of its tent.  For a year now, God had provided manna, a miraculous, perfectly balanced food that provided all the body requires for good health.  Rather than be grateful, the people shouted their dissatisfaction.
• The people who truly trust God is content with what He provides. A preoccupation with material things, whether diet or riches, is a subtle but real expression of unbelief.
• When am I, like Israel, most likely to become discouraged with my allotment in life? When discouraged, do I listen more to people’s complaints, to God’s provision, or to inner doubts?
• How would God feel when I complain about my life or crave things He has not provided for me? How does God communicate His will to me in this regard?

 

PRAYER:

Reflect for a while.  What is my utmost concern right now?  Is it appreciation of all God’s gifts or unfulfilled wishes?  Have I forgotten God’s abundant grace, such as life, food, health, work and friends?  Give a thanksgiving prayer to God for all that I possess.

 

HYMN:

Grace – youtu.be/0BVxAYGt2kc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+010

 

Numbers Chapter 10   (ESV)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. 3 And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. 6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow a long blast, but you shall not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 9 And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. 10 On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

 

REFLECTION:

• Read this passage twice with alertness just as soldiers awaiting the bugle to go out on the battleground.
• God used trumpets to coordinate the movements of the people. They were God’s instruments for bringing about order and discipline.  The whole community was called and directed by their sound.
• Many churches have a special music, a prelude to summon people to gather for worship. Our Sunday worship begins with the chairman reading a short passage as Call To Worship, signifying the beginning of worship. However, some people tend to linger to chat, to finish some work, some would come late.
• We need to know that Sunday Worship is when the community of faith gathers for “Celebration”. It is our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty and goodness that cause our utter delight and joy that we come to worship and to praise God together with fellow Christians.

 

PRAYER:

Stay quiet before God.  If Sunday worship is about believers coming together for celebration, is there anything in my worship attendance that needs to be changed so that it will reflect my celebratory emotion and will?  Wait for the Holy Spirit to show me areas regarding worship attending that need to be changed.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help me make the changes.

 

HYMN:

Draw me close – youtu.be/h561DdhNutQ

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+009

 

Numbers Chapter 9   (ESV)

4 So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. 6 And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” 8 And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. 11 In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it.

 

REFLECTION:

• Read the passage five times, each time focusing on a different aspect of it.
• As humans, we are forgetful people, and as forgetful people we need tangible reminders – symbols – of who God is and what He’s done. Therefore, as God commanded, many Jewish homes celebrate Passover around the time of Easter to remember all that God orchestrated to bring them out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land.  Under what circumstances are you most prone to forget who God is and what He’s done for you?
• Create a symbol that will remind me of God’s faithfulness in my life. Maybe it’s a photograph of close friends or a rock I picked up during a hike.  Put this symbol in a place where I will see it often.  When I look at it, I will be reminded and thank God for His blessings.

 

PRAYER:

Take a stroll down memory lane.  Think about the times when God was evident and at work.  Allow your memories to guide your prayers of gratitude for all He has done.

 

HYMN:

There is None Like You – youtu.be/MCfnlBoh2Gg

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+008

 

Numbers Chapter 8   (ESV)

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. 9 And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.

 

REFLECTION:

• This chapter talks about priests’ work and their sanctification for the work. They were to attend to the Tent of Meeting, where the rituals and ceremonies of the faith were enacted.  The closest we have to Levites today is the pastoral staff.  How are pastors today go about their assigned tasks?
• Their office assigns them certain pastoral responsibilities, such as preaching the Scriptures, serving communion, shepherding the flock, and so on. And their church assigns them certain ceremonial responsibilities, such as weddings, funerals, and baptisms.  How are they to exercise those responsibilities without them becoming routine and burdensome, as they sometimes were for the priests and Levites later in Israel’s history?
• The real work of pastors on every occasion, whether preaching the Word or performing weddings, requires the priestly service of prayer. Their vocation is to be responsive to what God is saying at those ceremonial moments in the life of the community of faith.  The ceremonies are over in an hour or so, but the prayers continue.  This is the real work – holding weddings and baptisms and funerals before God in the continual presence of prayer.  That way the holy is never profaned, never common, and never routine.  That’s how these pastoral functions become sacraments, true sacraments in the purest sense of the word, where holy things are handled with human hands, and in the process, the hands themselves are made more holy.

 

PRAYER:

Pray for the pastors at church.  Consider all the possible pressure, temptations, and burdens they may face.  Ask God to bless them that they may minister in all capacities with unceasing prayer.

 

HYMN:

Refiner’s Fire – youtu.be/SQclw7Ptxwc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Numbers+007

 

Numbers Chapter 7   (ESV)

84 This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes, 85 each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, 86 the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels; 87 all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering; 88 and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.

89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.

 

REFLECTION:

• Read this passage with reverence as if listening to God speaking from the Mercy Seat on the Ark.
• Moses obeyed God’s voice, thus living his life in accordance with God’s will. The foundation of spiritual growth is our obedience to God.  To hear and obey the voice of the Lord is essential if we are to receive His best.  Spiritual growth takes place as we hear the voice of God speaking to us, whether through His word of other means, and grow in our willingness to obey.
• When I sit at church Sunday worship, no matter which segment of it: invocation, prayer, Scripture reading, message, communion, blessing, welcome, announcement, pastoral prayer, do I hear God speaking?

 

PRAYER:

Ask the Holy Spirit to help me examine myself to discern areas that I need to change in order to listen to God’s word at each Sunday worship.

 

HYMN:

The More I Seek You – youtu.be/NI_1YliutzA