May 28, 2024, Day 3 of Week 9

Daily Dose of Hope

May 28, 2024

Day 3 of Week 9

Scripture:  Numbers 1-2; Psalm 64; Hebrews 11

Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with New Hope Church’s Bible reading plan. Today, we start the book of Numbers, we spend some time in a Psalm, and we continue with the book of Hebrews.  Let’s get started!

Let’s start by talking about the book of Numbers.  Keep in mind, God’s people were in Egypt for over 400 years.  God has been camping with them at Mount Sinai for over a year, teaching them how to relate to him and to one another.  Remember, God is forming a set apart people and it hasn’t been easy.  Now, he is planning on taking them on a long journey toward the land he promised their ancestors.

Before they leave Mount Sinai, however, God orders a headcount, a census of sorts, to number all the people.  This is what we read about this morning.  Spoiler alert:  all of these people will die (we will get to that in later chapters) and then God will count the next generation.  All this counting gives the book its name – Numbers.  Beyond the counting, the book of Numbers will teach us about the Israelites’ difficult journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land. 

Keep in mind, we are only in year two of the journey.  If you know much about Israel’s history, they wandered in the desert for forty years.  Why so long?  Well, that’s what we will learn over the next few weeks.  Also, take a moment to look at a map.  It really isn’t very far at all from Mount Sinai to the promised land of Israel.  So, y’all, they really did simply wander. 

Let’s move on to our psalm.  I know we haven’t spent a lot of time on the psalms.  I hope you are still reading through them or even singing them, as that is how they were originally meant to be communicated.  Today’s psalm is a Psalm of David.  It’s a psalm of safety and protection.  David goes into the lies and schemes of his enemies.  They think they know better.  They think they have the upper hand.  But what they will soon discover is that God always has the upper hand.  God will avenge him and the enemies will be defeated.  It’s obvious that David is speaking these words from experience.  Can you relate?

Hebrews 11 is a great chapter.  It could be called the “Hall of Fame of Faith.”   The chapter begins with these two famous verses, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”   The author is writing to a group of Christians whose faith was waning.  They were dealing with a great deal of persecution and adversity and many were beginning to drop out of the faith.  So, the author begins this passage on the importance of faith.  Faith isn’t something flimsy, but it’s strong and provides a solid foundation for our lives. 

Then, the Scripture says, “this is what the ancients were commended for.” The author begins to tell stories about real human beings who had this kind of intense, life-changing faith:

-He speaks of Abel, who because of his faith brought God the better offering than Cain.

-He speaks of Enoch (the great, great, great, great grandson of Adam) who lived a very righteous life that honored and pleased God. It was because of his faith that he sought to please God and he was one of only two people who did not physically die but was taken directly to heaven.

-He speaks of Noah, who had significant faith to build a massive ark just because God told him to. The people thought he was crazy. It was only because of his tremendous faith in God that he persevered and we know the rest of the story.

-He speaks of Abraham and Sarah. He really spends some more time on them.

Keep in mind he is speaking to Jewish Christians so these are amazing fathers and mothers of the faith. He wants to remind them, look---there are others who have had hardship but through faith, they have maintained hope and persevered into an unknown future. So Abraham and Sarah were called, by faith, to leave their home and move into a strange land. They lived in tents. Because of their faith, they listened to God and trusted God, doing what he asked them to do.

What the author is saying is that these are great people of faith that we can learn from AND this same kind of faith resides within you. You can have this same kind of foundational faith. 

Obviously, we can look at these incredibly faithful examples listed in this chapter and they may seem so far removed from us. They lived so long ago. They know nothing about what it means to live now in 2024.  So, let’s think about people closer to you that have this kind of faith.  Who are the people who have built their hope and their lives on the solid foundation of faith in God?  Who is it you know who has boldly stepped into the unknown because of their faith?  Take time and reflect on this, thanking God for putting these individuals in your path.

Let’s chat again tomorrow.  

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki