June 3 - Day 10; Lev 26 - Numbers 7:89

I'm recording this blog posting from my desk while on my lunch break at work. I was reflecting on my role as a leader in my company and in my home as I read today's reading. I find myself often in conflict between my responsibilities as a husband, father and employee. There always seems something that seems to be dropped or out of balance.

In my role as a manager one of the challenges I was facing today was how do you measure success? And all too often in business it is measured by a number. So today as I close out Leviticus (the instructions for the priests) and enter Numbers I see God's hand in helping us understand the relationship of obedience and numbers. In Lev 26, we see both God's telling Moses the rewards He has in store for the Israelites if they choose obedience to the Laws and decrees and also telling Moses the consequences of disobedience.

God has just made some very serious promises here to the Israelites. But how will they know on what side of the promise they are? Who is judge and jury of this? And ultimately we see God answering that by leading into the book of numbers. Obedience is measured in the "numbers." God has set up the rules... and now they must decide if they want to obey.

Now please don't read this posting wrong. I'm not suggesting that obedience always results in material blessing or increasing of the numbers. Certainly God can and has done that in the past. But as God judges obedience He's concerned not only with the group average, but the individual score.

God does keep individual scores. He shows that to us in the opening section of Numbers. He instructs Moses and Aaron to take a census. It is important to know who is where. God knows at all time how many of us there are. Not a one of us is unimportant to Him. He not only knows our number, but He knows where we belong and to whom we've been given. He points out to us in this book as well the importance of family. I was impressed with how he not only counted the people but recorded to which tribe the were a part of. Furthermore, He gave Moses instructions for how to keep the tribes together in their campsites. Family is a primary way in which God creates order in the world today.

Let me draw some applications of my own from this. While man (and my employer) may be interested in the numbers I turn in and they are using this to evaluate success or failure, God is using a different kind of numbers. He knows who I am - out of the whole wide world - He cares about me. I am more than a number to him. He has given me a name and placed me in a tribe. He has given me this tribe and family to help me discover His plan for my life and to walk this journey with. He has given me the responsibility of family to help me help him keep order in this world. He told us in the end of Leviticus what we would get if we obey... and he told us what we would get if we disobey. If I were to judge my success as a leader - as a God follower- in relation to the promises He made what score would I give myself? Do I see more blessings or curses in my life. He is letting me choose to obey or not. So I cannot complain if life is not the way I would want it, because in all likelihood, I'm not completely obedient to him.

I see some even deeper applications here. God laid down the instructions for worship to Moses. 12 times we see the tribes present their offerings to the dedication of the temple in Numbers. 12 times they were exactly the same. To a tribe, the people obeyed exactly as God had commanded. But let me dig and expand a little deeper. It's not written here, but can you imagine some of the conversations that must have gone on behind the scenes. What if you were the person responsible for raising the goats? And the tribe wanted to take your best breeding goat and dedicate it as a sin offering? You'd probably argue a little. :Please take this nice one over here, he's of the same genetics just has the wrong color. Or how about this one over here, he's even better genetics but has a bad leg and can't walk very good." Can you hear yourself arguing about what He's calling you to give up for the sake of tribal obedience? What if it were your sliver plate that they wanted to give away? Now you don't have a matching set. What if it were your whatever...... would you willingly give it? Perhaps in a "family" of sorts, the vote would be cast and you'd be overruled. So the "family" might look obedient but is the spirit of every person in the family obedient to God's instruction? God didn't just record the numbers of the tribe's collective sacrifices and offerings. He started with recording their individual numbers and to which tribe they belonged. God knows if my "tribe" is obedient. He knows whether we've offered the right sacrifices or if we've accepted his offering of salvation. BUT He also knows my individual heart. He knows who I am. He knows if I'm just going through the actions of giving my sacrifices... or if my actions are indicative of a spirit of worship. The danger here is I belong to many "tribes." Is every tribe I belong to obedient to His instruction? My work team, my extended family, my immediate family, my friends, etc.... Then within each of these tribes, what is my heart attitude toward the sacrifice He is asking me to give? When I see it this way, I recognize a great need for repentance in the many tribes I belong to, collectively and individually.