Week 13: Numbers 16 – 29 and Psalms 85 -91

One of the glories of God’s Word being alive and active is the way different passages interact with each other to draw out one common theme.  I was amazed how this week’s passages in Numbers complimented the corresponding Psalms and visa versa.

In Psalm 85, the Psalmist posed these questions:

“Will you be angry with us forever?  Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?  Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.”  Psalm 85:5-7

I imagine those same questions weighed on the hearts and minds of the Israelites (the God-fearing ones at least) as plague swept through the camp after Korah and the other sons of Levi had rebelled against God (chapter 16).  And again, when the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel after they had yoked themselves to Baal of Peor (chapter 25).  Or what about when Moses and Aaron were told by God that they would never enter the promised land because they had displayed the same rebellious heart as the rest of the people when Moses struck the rock at Meribah (chapter 20)?  The weary wanderers had to wonder, “Will God be angry with us forever?”

Psalm 85, then, concluded with this beautiful profession of God’s character:

“Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.  Yes, the LORD will give what is good…”  Psalm 85:10-12

Just as the Psalmist expressed the questions on the hearts of the people in Numbers, Psalm 85 also testifies to the long-suffering grace and mercy that God poured out on His people in the desert.  In the midst of the rebellion and idolatry, God consistently provided intercession and atonement for the people.  Through the bronze serpent (chapter 21), God gave salvation in exchange for their repentance and faith.  At Meribah, God poured out water in abundance for the people and their livestock even though their hearts were embittered toward Him. God even pronounced the promise of their coming Messiah and King through the prophet Balaam who had been commissioned to curse them.  Yes, indeed, the LORD gave what was good.

The Numbers passages and Psalms of this week also interacted to reveal a divine contrast between crying out against God (Numbers) crying out to God (Psalms).  Throughout their stay in the wilderness, the Israelites demonstrated for us how to turn our hearts away from God, to despise the ways He has shown His faithful lovingkindness to us and to lust after things that God has purposefully delivered us out of.  They did not go to God with their questions and frustrations, but rather went to Moses, Aaron and one another to complain about God.  In all of God’s provisions to show His desire for His people, they made it quite evident that they did not desire Him.  They cut themselves off from the giver of life itself, and the consequence was death.

In the Psalms, we see something quite the opposite.  Let us look specifically at Psalm 88.  This particular Psalm is one of intense lament and utter discouragement.  However, the Psalmist never spoke out against God.  Instead, he came to God, knowing He alone was the only One who could answer the deep concerns of His heart.  The Psalm does not find its way back to adoration and praise, as almost all of the other Psalms of lament do.  It expresses one hope and one hope only:

“O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.  Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!”  Psalm 88:1-2

The Psalmist knew that God alone could save him and deeply desired for God to hear him.  He wrote down his anguish and sang it to God as his highest act of worship.  God received his crying out as a gift and tended to his heart in a way only God could.

I recognize myself in the both the grumbling Israelites and the desperate Psalmist.  My heart has gone both ways; crying out against God and crying out to God.  In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul addressed all that happened to the 1^st generation of liberated Israel in the wilderness.  He recalled it as instruction to the Corinthian church and to us now.  He exhorted us to not fall into idolatry and grumbling, and to not put Christ to the test.  It does us well to learn from the costly example written down for us in Scripture.  We must take seriously the commands God gave to His people to protect their hearts from treading on such deadly ground.

Right in the middle of all their rebellion, God reiterated again His instructions for offerings.  Clearly, God, creator of the human race, had something in mind by commanding that they bring, daily, weekly, monthly and annual sacrifices into His tabernacle.  The practice of worship was to be the constant, when everything else was governed by variables.  Regular worship was to be the foundation, the cornerstone for everything else in life.

I am encouraged by the reminder of this regularity, particularly in this season when our lives are also governed by shifting variables.  When everything around is uncertain, there is a constant – coming before God and worshiping Him.   There is actual comfort to be had and real peace to be found in the repetitive discipline of daily, continuous offering.  It is what grounds us and keeps our eyes from wondering to lesser gods.

Just as with the 2^nd generation of liberated Israel, we as God’s holy army have been called upon to go into battle.  While ours in not a physical one, to disposes physical territory and destroy physical idols, ours is a very real and present spiritual battle.  The only way we stand a chance as the intensity of the spiritual battle increases daily, is by building our lives upon the daily worship of our God and offering of ourselves to Him.  Jesus fulfilled the requirement of every slaughtered sacrifice needed for our sin and transgressions.  So now, we get to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, daily, fully alive in the resurrected life that Jesus has given us by His amazing grace.