Numbers 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Don't Count Sheep

Fretting over tomorrow's problems siphons the strength you need for today, leaving you anemic and weak. So, when you can't sleep-don't count sheep. Read Scripture.
Worry takes a look at catastrophes and groans, "It's all coming unraveled." But God says in Romans 8:28 that "every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."
Worry claims, "The world has gone crazy." God's Word disagrees. Mark 7:37 says, "He has done it all and done it well."
Worry wonders if anyone is in control. Yet God's Word calls Him "the blessed controller of all things." (1 Tim. 6:14-15 Phillips)
Worry whispers this lie: "God doesn't know what I need." But God's Word declares in Philippians 4:19, "God will take care of everything you need."
Worry never sleeps. But God's children do!
From Max on Life

Numbers 21

Hormah

The Canaanite king of Arad, ruling in the Negev, heard that Israel was advancing up the road to Atharim. He attacked Israel and took prisoners of war.

2 Israel vowed a vow to God: “If you will give this people into our power, we’ll destroy their towns and present the ruins to you as a holy destruction.”

3 God listened to Israel’s prayer and gave them the Canaanites. They destroyed both them and their towns, a holy destruction. They named the place Hormah (Holy Destruction).
The Snake of Fiery Copper

4-5 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. They spoke out against God and Moses: “Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can’t stomach this stuff any longer.”

6-7 So God sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke out against God and you. Pray to God; ask him to take these snakes from us.”

Moses prayed for the people.

8 God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live.”

9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.
Camping on the Way to Moab

10-15 The People of Israel set out and camped at Oboth. They left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness that faces Moab on the east. They went from there and pitched camp in the Zered Valley. Their next camp was alongside the Arnon River, which marks the border between Amorite country and Moab. The Book of the Wars of God refers to this place:

Waheb in Suphah,
    the canyons of Arnon;
Along the canyon ravines
    that lead to the village Ar
And lean hard against
    the border of Moab.

16-18 They went on to Beer (The Well), where God said to Moses, “Gather the people; I’ll give them water.” That’s where Israel sang this song:

    Erupt, Well!
Sing the Song of the Well,
    the well sunk by princes,
Dug out by the peoples’ leaders
    digging with their scepters and staffs.

19-20 From the wilderness their route went from Mattanah to Nahaliel to Bamoth (The Heights) to the valley that opens into the fields of Moab from where Pisgah (The Summit) rises and overlooks Jeshimon (Wasteland).

21-22 Israel sent emissaries to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, “Let us cross your land. We won’t trespass into your fields or drink water in your vineyards. We’ll keep to the main road, the King’s Road, until we’re through your land.”

23-27 But Sihon wouldn’t let Israel go through. Instead he got his army together and marched into the wilderness to fight Israel. At Jahaz he attacked Israel. But Israel fought hard, beat him soundly, and took possession of his land from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok right up to the Ammonite border. They stopped there because the Ammonite border was fortified. Israel took and occupied all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages. Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had attacked the former king of Moab and captured all his land as far north as the river Arnon. That is why the folk singers sing,

Come to Heshbon to rebuild the city,
    restore Sihon’s town.

28-29
Fire once poured out of Heshbon,
    flames from the city of Sihon;
Burning up Ar of Moab,
    the natives of Arnon’s heights.
Doom, Moab!
    The people of Chemosh, done for!
Sons turned out as fugitives, daughters abandoned as captives
    to the king of the Amorites, to Sihon.

30
Oh, but we finished them off:
    Nothing left of Heshbon as far as Dibon;
Devastation as far off as Nophah,
    scorched earth all the way to Medeba.

31-32 Israel moved in and lived in Amorite country. Moses sent men to scout out Jazer. They captured its villages and drove away the Amorites who lived there.

33 Then they turned north on the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out with his entire army to meet Moses in battle at Edrei.

34 God said to Moses, “Don’t be afraid of him. I’m making a present of him to you, him and all his people and his land. Treat him the same as Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon.”

35 So they attacked him, his sons, and all the people—there was not a single survivor. Israel took the land.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, January 22, 2022

Today's Scripture
Genesis 3:1–10
(NIV)

The Fall

3 Now the serpente was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?f”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,g 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”h

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.i 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,j knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirablek for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,l who was with her, and he ate it.m 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;n so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.o

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walkingp in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hidq from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”r

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraids because I was naked;t so I hid.”

Insight

Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 identify the serpent in Genesis 3 as “the devil” (false accuser) or “Satan” (adversary). Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Paul says that “Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Adam and Eve were prohibited from eating from only one specific tree—“the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16–17). But Satan twisted that prohibition to include “any tree in the garden” (3:1). “You will not certainly die” (v. 4) was Satan’s defiant challenge to God (2:17). Eve modified God’s clear instruction by adding “you must not touch it” (3:3). By: K. T. Sim

Hiding from God

The Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9

I squeezed my eyes shut and started counting aloud. My fellow third-grade classmates tore out of the room to find a place to hide. After scouring every cabinet, trunk, and closet for what felt like hours, I still couldn’t find one of my friends. I felt ridiculous when she finally jumped out from behind a lacey, potted fern hanging from the ceiling. Only her head had been eclipsed by the plant—the rest of her body had been in plain sight the entire time!

Since God is all-knowing, when Adam and Eve “hid from [Him]” (Genesis 3:8) in the garden of Eden, they were always in “plain sight.” But they weren’t playing any childhood game; they were experiencing the sudden awareness—and shame—of their wrongdoing, having eaten from the tree God told them not to eat from.

Adam and Eve turned from God and His loving provision when they disobeyed His instructions. Instead of withdrawing from them in anger, however, He sought them out, asking, “Where are you?” (v. 9). It’s not that He didn’t know where they were, but He wanted them to know His compassionate concern for them.

I couldn’t see my friend hiding, but God always sees us and knows us—to Him we’re always in plain sight. Just as He pursued Adam and Eve, Jesus sought us out while we were “still sinners”—dying on the cross to demonstrate His love for us (Romans 5:8). We no longer need to hide. By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

When have you tried to “hide” from God? How has He sought you out?

Father God, thank You for demonstrating Your love and care for me despite the ways I wrong You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Am I Looking To God?

Look to Me, and be saved… —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved….” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me….”

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved….” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me….” Salvation is yours the moment you look.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36