COUNT ME IN

DAY 75: I am not good with numbers. As a writer, I am partial to letters. Letters, when combined and deciphered, can create wonderful stories to help the imagination soar. They tell the story of history.  They record the grandeur of kings.  They communicate emotions. They entertain, inform and inspire.  Letters help us define who we are and express how we feel!

Numbers count us.Number count weight and age. Number are not flexible or subject to interpretations. 

Numbers have no imagination. They do not care how you feel. They are precise and unforgiving. Letters begin discussions and debate; with numbers you are either right or wrong.  Numbers are the pharisees of the universe - nothing but rules, rules, rules.

So imagine my shock today, as I discovered an important lesson hiding in the numbers of a headcount in our daily Bible reading.  Israel had finally completed 40 years of wandering in the dessert as punishment for failing to go in and conquer the land of Canaan that God had brought them to.  If you recall, 10 out of the 12 spies (please don't ask me what percentage that is) reported that the people of the land were too big and fierce to conquer.  Only Joshua and Caleb reminded them that God would help them overcome the numerous obstacles.  Still, the people refused to trust; and they were banished to the dessert until the faithless generation all passed away.

Now, 40 years later, that generation was all gone - all but Joshua, Caleb and Moses.  The rest who were 20 years old and older had died.  The time was finally right to try again.  The people would get another chance to trust God and posses the land that He promised them.  God, however, had one bit of housekeeping to take care of.

Numbers 26:1  After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, ² “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families—all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.” 

So the counting began tribe by tribe.  While I don't usually like to get into the weeds of numbers, I was curious to see how the numbers had changed.  So I flipped back to the books of Numbers chapter 1 so I could compare to the previous counting.  Here is what I discovered:

• 6 of the family tribes decreased in numbers from the first census
• 1 of those tribes, Simeon, dropped by almost 2/3 (yes I had to use a calculator)
• 6 tribes increased in numbers from the first census
• 1 of those tribes, Manasseh, increased by almost 2/3

When the first census was taken, there were 603,550 men.  When the new census was taken 40 years later, there were 601,730.

After 40 years of wandering,

there were only 1,820 fewer men of military age.  

Amazingly, I think there is a story in those numbers.  Remember, the people refused to go into the land because they felt the enemies were too strong for their numbers - yet God had told them He would give them victory.  They refused.  He sent them to the dessert.  If you recall, at that point they decided maybe they should go.  God said no, they missed their opportunity for His help.  They tried anyway.  They were soundly defeated. They wandered.  Now there is a new, only slightly smaller, generation - that incidentally, a few days before actually numbered even MORE.   Look back at the first part of Numbers 26:1 to the reference "After the plague..." Did you read yesterday how God punished some despicable disobedience with a plague that killed 24,000 people?   The nature of the offense makes me think that most of those were men.

SO...  if they had not disobeyed and died, Israel would have actually increased in the dessert over 40 years.  HMMM...... as it stands, God is now sending them in to conquer with FEWER people.

I don't think waiting to count them until there were FEWER was a coincidence.  If God wanted to build their faith in themselves, He could have increased their numbers ten-fold and then sent them back to take the land. Perhaps to clearly illustrate that it was NEVER about their numbers, but about GOD'S STRENGTH and GOD's PROMISE, God waited until they were less than they had been.  Ta...da.....  A point to numbers!!!  In this case, less is more...and always was.  Because the number was always about ONE.

It blows the mind I know, but I have one more insight.  God counted every male of fighting age.  All of them.  The tall ones. The fat ones. They ones with ADD. The bald ones. The sensitive ones.  The Fathers. The single men. The married men.  The married men who wished they were single. The older men.  Men from every tribe. There was NO conscientious objector status.  No furloughs. No opt-out list.  EVERY ONE OF THEM WAS COUNTED IN THE RANKS.  Among God's people, there would be NO SPECTATORS.  Everyone was counted in.  And everyone of them could have confidence because IT WAS NEVER ABOUT NUMBERS - unless you mean the number ONE.

I am reminded in this that God takes a census with me every morning.  I am counted.  I am in the ranks.  He does not give me the option of being a spectator.  He counts me, but more importantly, He reminds me to count Him.  

 It doesn't matter how large the task, how small the task, how exciting or how dull, how strong the foe or long the road,
  I'm in!

If God sends me, God goes before me. 

I only have to count to ONE!!!
Because if He sends me HE IS IN!!
That's all I really need to know. 

Day 75 of 365
Numbers 26:1-51
Luke 2:36-52
Psalm 60:1-12
Proverbs 11:15