Agape Devotions

READ : Numbers 26-27; Psalm 90 REFLECT : Numbers 26 is another census, but its significance should not be overlooked. Whereas when David counted God’s people, he sinned—for God had not commanded the census, and by so counting, he was, as it were, assessing or putting to the test God’s original promise that his people would be as numerous as the stars in the sky—this census was by God’s command. What is more, it was there to teach a particular lesson. The lesson is made clear at the end of the chapter when it says that none of those from the previous census (the people who had rebelled against God and of whom God had said would therefore not enter the Promised Land) were left. “ Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun ” (26:65). Lest anyone think that this action was callous and not due to the lack of faith of those people who perished, a story is recorded of daughters asking what would happen to their inheritance (27:1-11). God, through Mos...

READ : Numbers 25 / Psalm 89 Verse chosen for meditation: Numbers 25:10-13 10 And the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’” REFLECT This chapter is about the sin of Peor. Israel had stayed in Shittim for a while, during which the women of Moab seduced them to both sexual sin and idolatry. We have read how Israel sinned many times, through their complaints, lack of faith and ingratitude. But what made this sin so serious was that they had outrightly worshipped another God. Previously in the golden calf incident, it was also idol...

  READ Numbers 22-24 Psalm 88 Verses chosen for devotion 20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him.  27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”  REFLECT Balaam was a non-Israelite “prophet” highly regarded by the King of Moab and we read in the passage that the Lord spoke to him as well. But what happened here was that he apparently declined to do what was told by B...

Read: Numbers 20-21; Psalm 87 Verses chosen for meditation: Numbers 20:21-23 ESV 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah,[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. Reflection Whining and grumbling seemed to be second nature to the Israelites. Many from the previous generation would have passed on by now as they approached the 40 - year mark in their wilderness journey. However, reflections of the old guards can still be seen in the younger generation in their response and reactions to unpleasant situations. Moses, their leader, together with Aaron, seemed to have been putt...

  READ:  NUMBERS 18-19; PSALM 8 Scripture for Meditation: NUMBERS 19: 2-7 Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come.   And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him.   And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.   And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned.   And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer.   Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. REFLECT God had instructed Moses to obtain a red heifer without blemis...

Read: Numbers 16-17 / Psalm 85 No devotionals for today (Sunday).

Read: Numbers 15 / Psalm 84 Verses chosen for meditation:  Numbers 15:32 “While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. 34 They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. 35 And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Reflect:  At first glance, what the man did seemed not worthy of death. He was just gathering sticks on the Sabbath day! However, if we read this passage in the context of Numbers 15:30-31, it is likely to be an example of how a member of the congregation chose to sin intentionally against the Lord. He was an example of “the person who does anything with a hig...

READ  Numbers 13-14/Psalm 83 Verse for meditation. Num.14:20-21 " The   Lord   replied, “I have forgiven them,   as you asked.   Nevertheless, as surely as I live   and as surely as the glory of the   Lord   fills the whole earth,"   REFLECT Another challenge to Moses’ authority arose in Numbers 13 and 14. The Lord told Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan to prepare for the conquest. Both military and economic intelligence were to be collected, and spies were named from every tribe (Num.13:18-20). This meant the spies’ report could be used not only to plan the conquest, but also to begin discussions about allocating territory among the Israelite tribes. The spies’ report confirmed that the land was very good, that “it flows with milk and honey” (Num.13:27). However, the spies also reported that “the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large” (Num.13:28). Moses and his lieutenant, Cale...

READ : Numbers 11-12 / Psalm 82 Verse chosen for meditation: Numbers 11:26-29 26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” REFLECT In this chapter, we see a similar pattern again: the Israelites' incessant complaints, angering God, and Moses interceding for them. Then, Moses finally had enough and asked God to relief him of the burden of leading the people, preferring death even (Numbers 11:10-15). Moses’ lament contained discontent, despair and even rebelli...

READ: Numbers 9:15-10:36; Psalm 81. Verses chosen for meditation: Numbers 10:1-2 10  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. REFLECT Often seen in Chinese war movies, trumpets were used together with drumbeats to blow blasting alarms, to boost the morale of soldiers and signal a forward charge during a war. Start of chapter 10 in Numbers recorded God’s instructions to Moses to make two silver trumpets and outline the instructions to use the sounds of the trumpets to gather the congregation and for breaking camps. Historians recognise that God used trumpets in the Hebrew Bible as a means of communicating with His covenant people. God could not speak directly to the people without terrifying them. So, God spoke to them indirectly through the use of trumpets. To the Hebrews, the sound of the trumpet represented both the...

Read Numbers 8:1-9:14; Psalm 80 Verse chosen for meditation: Numbers 8:14 ESV Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. Reflect Who are the Levites? Do they truly deserve to be separated from the rest?  What does it feel like to be selected by God? Relate I can almost imagine the reactions in the crowd, or the assembly, when the Levites were presented before them. They could be heaving a sigh of relief or turning green with envy. This will depend on how the selection is being viewed.  For those selected and their families, they could be feeling the pride of being chosen. That is if they saw it as a badge of honour, of climbing a notch or two up the echelon. I know how proud my sister and brother - in - law were when my youngest nephew recently went on stage in school to receive the young ACSian award.  On the other hand, there could be a sense of loss, emotional as well as material, if being selected meant spending...

  READ : Numbers 7: Psalm 79 Verses chosen for Meditation : Numbers 7: 13-16 And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;  14  one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense;  15  one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;  16  one male goat for a sin offering;   REFLECT Moses had just finished setting up the tabernacle and consecrated the utensils. The chiefs of the 12 tribes of Israel then approached Moses and gave, for the use of the Tabernacle, wagons and oxen for moving the Tabernacle for the Hebrews as they travelled in the wilderness, as well as animals and grain for offerings. Of the 12 chiefs of the tribes, each would take a day to offer their sacrifices. Each day's sacrifice was lavish, as the respective tribes ...

No devotionals today. Read: Numbers 5-6 / Psalm 78

Read: Numbers 3-4; Psalm 77 Verses chosen for meditation: Numbers 4:4-5   4 This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things.  5 When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. Reflect As we read Numbers 4:4-15, we came to understand that not only did God gave specific instructions to Moses for the setting up of the Tabernacle, He gave specific instructions for taking it down when they were about to move out as a camp. The setting up and taking down of the Tabernacle started with the Most Holy Place and ended with the Outer Courtyard.  It was to be done this way and no other way. If it was done any other way like how we usually keep things after a church camp, disaster would have struck the priests and the people of Israel. Due care must be taken when all the furnishings were taken down. These were to be carried by the sons of Kohath but ...

READ Numbers 1-2 / Psalm 76 Verse for meditation, Num.1:54.  54 " Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the   Lord   commanded Moses." REFLECT What’s in a number? Sometimes much more than you know, especially when God does the math. When I think of this book, Numbers, I can’t help but think of the Walk Thru the Bible illustration meant to sum up the content of the book. It showed some people-sized numbers, with faces and legs, wandering around in a desert. The book of Numbers tells the story of the 38-year trek the Israelites took to get from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land. It should not have taken them nearly that long, and the explanation for their delay is an important part of the book. But back to the numbers. Numbers is not just about wandering in the wilderness; it also contains two census recordings of the Israelite men (not counting women and children). The numbers are specific, but seem irrelevant on first glance: from the tribes of Reuben...