Day 33: Numbers 31 to 36
Do you remember the song "Faithfully" by Journey? It was very popular when I was growing up. In fact, it was mine and my high school boyfriend's "song." :) The lyrics are about a musician on the road who asks his girl to stand by him and he'll be "forever yours, faithfully."
Well, my boyfriend and I broke up. We were not forever faithful. It was just a song we liked to sing to each other dreaming about our lives together. (Eventually, I did meet a man to whom I will be forever, faithfully--my husband Shane.).
When thinking about the book of Numbers, what strikes me the most is how God is continually faithful to Israel. Notice the contrast between God and Israel. God is holy, while Israel is not. God is faithful to Israel, while Israel is repeatedly unfaithful to God. God loves Israel, and Israel only seems to love God when they want or need something from him. God is faithful, while Israel is faithless.
The lesson here: God remains faithful to Israel--and to us--even when they/we turn away.
Even though God is to be feared because he punishes and destroys, he's also the one who remains by our sides. He remains faithful even when we walk away from him. That's pretty powerful, actually. God is faithful when we are faithless. God is holy even when we are not. God is forever yours, faithfully--no matter what you do.
This God does seem to be the same God of the New Testament, the same God who offers us Jesus, the same God who offers us grace. A God that I didn't think existed in the Old Testament. But He's there. He is the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament. He loves Israel, and he continues to show them this again and again. They are His people, and He is their God. We, too, are his people, and He is our God. Will He be forever yours, faithfully like you will be to him? I hope so.
0 comments:
Post a Comment