Read Numbers 21:10–20
Questions from the Scripture text: Where did the children of Israel go in Numbers 21:10? And where in Numbers 21:11? And where in Numbers 21:12? And where in Numbers 21:13? Between which two nations did this bring them? In what non-Bible book are these places identified (Numbers 21:14-15)? Where do they go in Numbers 21:16? Who speaks to whom there? What does He say to do? What does He say that He will do? How does Israel respond to this (Numbers 21:17, cf. Exodus 15:1)? Where do they go in Numbers 21:18? And what two places in Numbers 21:19? And where in Numbers 21:20? What can they do to the wilderness from there?
How should we respond to ordinary faithfulness in believers’ lives? Numbers 21:10–20 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that ordinary faithfulness is produced by extraordinary grace, for which we must sing God’s praise.
Extraordinary greatness of ordinary grace, Numbers 21:10-13, Numbers 21:18-20. If we have not felt the theological and spiritual dynamics of Numbers, we will miss how wonderful are Numbers 21:10-13. Four stops! And then another in Numbers 21:16, and four more in Numbers 21:18-20. That’s nine stops… without a judgment provoking incident of grumbling or rebellion.
By now, we see what a miracle that is for the visible church. We have seen what their character was, despite seeing the wonderful works of God and despite having the wonderfully displayed and communicated presence of God. What no external pressure could produce, the inward work of the grace of God was accomplishing. It is a great mercy of God when we, or our families, or our congregations can just be boringly faithful and peaceful. It is almighty grace that upholds us in faithful plodding.
The historicity of God’s work, Numbers 21:14-15. There is nothing that is more important to Christianity than that Jesus actually lived and died and rose again. We rejoice that other books outside of the Bible (though not nearly as well attested or maintained as the Bible itself) witness to the historical factuality of what we read in Scripture. There was even such a book at the time that Moses wrote Numbers 21, and the Spirit thought that it was important to bring to believers’ attention that their religion is true.
The God of the Bible is the true and living God. He is our Creator, and He has genuinely worked His redemption in time. When He brings you to faith, He doesn’t just convince you of ideas. He brings you into a genuine, living union with the second Person of the Godhead. He indwells you with the third Person of the godhead. He is the same God with you that He was with His people throughout the ages, that He has been to the church under Christ for the past two thousand years, that He will be for unending ages in the next world.
Rejoicing over God’s mighty, faithful work, Numbers 21:16-18. The place to which they come is literally called “well” (“Beer” is Hebrew for “well”). Leaders from nations might have dug it (Numbers 21:18), but it was YHWH Who gave them water (Numbers 21:16). The command to gather the people recalls Numbers 20:8, Numbers 20:10. And the people respond to God’s display of God’s grace in the same way that they had done when He saved them and defeated Egypt at the Red Sea (cf. Exodus 14:30–15:1). How foolish their previous complaining had been! God would not let them die of thirst, when He had promised to bring them into the land. God gives His people to sing His mighty deeds, that they would remember His faithfulness and power, so that they would set their hope in God, and not forget His works, but keep His commandments (cf. Psalm 78:7). For this reason, God has given to each heart, each home, and each church to have singing His songs as a core part of their life.
What ordinary faithfulness in your life has displayed God’s extraordinary grace to you? What place does singing God’s own songs have in your daily life? In your family life? In your congregational life?
Sample prayer: Lord, left to ourselves, we would never be faithful, never grow, never even plod along in our walk with You. But by Your almighty grace, You have made us to walk by faith. Grant that the songs of Your Word would be the songs of our hearts, our homes, our churches, and our lives, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH449 “As When the Prophet Moses Raised”
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