Wisdom International Devotionals

by Seth Davey

  Out of the Ordinary Numbers 28:26 “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.”   Numbers 28 reads like a page copied and pasted from Leviticus, filled with specific ceremonial instructions for daily, monthly, and yearly sacrifices, in stark contrast to the previous portions that have read more as narrative and have included exceptional dialogues. But look above the specifics of this instruction, friend, above the particularities of this description relating to a Feast of Weeks, and simply ponder the deeper fact that when Almighty God establishes a symbolic means for His people to fellowship with Him in a special way, or in a way that’s set apart from the usual Monday-Friday routines, that work of worship we commence at the holy convocation is always  extraordinary .    I wonder if the reason there are so many ‘dead’ church...

  Dying Request Numbers 27:15-18 Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.”   Do you remember in Matthew 9:36 where Jesus had compassion on the crowds and saw them as sheep without a shepherd? That’s the fundamental distinction between shepherds and wolves. A wolf looks out at hapless masses and sneers, seeing how easily he can exploit them, how he can devour them. To a wolf, people are just notifications on a computer screen. Just a growing list of subscribers that he always needs more of. Not to the shepherd. The shepherd sees lost people and desires to bring them home. He doesn’t just pity them for a moment and walk...

  Hand in Hand Numbers 27:8 b -11 “‘ If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance … to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statue and rule, as the LORD commanded Moses.’”   Part of the reason our generation is so far removed from basic, intrinsic understanding of virtue and genuine liberty, while touting both, is because the abstract idea of ‘freedom’ has come to imply the eradication of rules. The pop idea today is that liberty is the removal of law and order, that one’s inalienable rights implies autonomy from authority, rather than properly measured authority. Which is why later enlightenment thinkers like Nietzsche eradicated God from society, because, to him, God was just a big rule-maker in the sky, always impeding ...

  When God Speaks for You Numbers 27:1-7 a Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad. … And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest … saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. … And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.” Moses brought their case before the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right.”   Every moment in the biblical record is a historic moment in the sense that it took place in time, and, likewise, every moment is also a historic moment in the sense that it’s meaningful, but, commonly speaking, some moments seem to us more consequential to the trajectory of history than others. Constantine’s victory over the pagan king Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge was a historic moment. So, too, was Martin Gambill’s 100-mile ride to Kings Mountain where he and his minutemen routed General Clinton in...

  A New Genesis Numbers 26:1-2 After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.”   Aren’t you so encouraged to know that even when the LORD starts over, He never starts from scratch? He always has a remnant of genuine followers who seek His face above the din of Shittims. Even when it seems like the whole of society has run after the Baals, even when the church buildings have been turned into nightclubs, even when the echoing sounds of revival worship get replaced by the sounds of riots, even when the battles that made a difference to history are behind us, won by our forefathers, even when the story of arks and mountaintop theophanies and Red Sea crossings and giant-slaying shepherds and angel choirs seem to be drawing to a slow, uninspiring end—like a car on the autobahn that’...

  Sabbath Psalm (Revised from John Peterson’ hymn ‘A Flag to Follow’)   I sought a flag to follow, A cause for which to stand; I sought a valiant leader— A King with shepherd’s hands. I sought a stirring challenge: Some noble work to try; To give my life fulfillment— My faith a chance to fly.   I found them all in Jesus—the Life, the Truth, the Way; Beneath His cross I’ll take my stand and follow Him today!   I sought a Shield of reason  For doubts the devil sends; A Bow of godly wisdom To fire back at him. I sought a word of comfort, With real authority; To solve life’s deeper meaning; Or at least to find the key.   I found them all in Jesus—the Life, the Truth, the Way! Beneath His cross I’ll take my stand and follow Him today!

  In Broad Daylight Numbers 25:5-6a & 7-8a And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.” And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel. … When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly.    Numbers 25 takes a gruesome turn here that I find difficult to stomach, but the blow is softened when we realize just how brazen this idolatrous act really is. At first glance, I didn’t catch it. The ESV wording makes it sound like a Jewish man has simply fallen in love with a Midianite woman, brought her home to meet his parents, and Aaron’s grandson Phinehas kills...

  No Place Like Home Numbers 25:1-3 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal at Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.   Whether this land of Shittim was a city full of Sphinx and ziggurats and skyscrapers reaching to heaven, or just a backwater town with a blinking stoplight, a gas station, and a gravel road, it was an oasis to these pilgrims whose hearts continued to pine after the world. To them,  anything  is better than belonging to the true and living God. Slavery in Egypt, genocidal edicts that demand their newborn sons, golden calves they fashion themselves, strange new gods they find in neighboring towns; whatever the hook, they’ll bite!   I just had a heart-to-heart conversation with a Christian friend who finally hit rock bottom in his pornography add...

  Balaam’s Final Oracle Numbers 24:15 a  & 17 And he took up his discourse and said, … ”I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”   When skeptical friends ask you for proof of Christianity, when they push and prod you to explain why a loving God allowed that tragedy to occur, or why He doesn’t seem to answer that ongoing prayer, or simply why you’ve never actually seen God with your own two eyes, isn’t the substance of every answer you give in response summed up by these two phrases: “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near”? This, again, is what theologians refer to as the ‘already-not yet’ principle. We’re already seated with Christ in heavenly places; our victory’s been won by our Redeemer; and we’ve been given a new nature in Him, a new name, and a new identity, yet we’re still very much a work in progress, aren’t we? Still a long way off from seeing God face to face in g...

  Faith—An Oasis Numbers 24:2 b -3 a  & 5-7 And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his discourse and said, … “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.”   When the Author of language waxes lyrical like this, it behooves us to not reply in kind as best we can, even if our greatest imitative parallels are like infantile scribbles in comparison, even if the sum of our words are the equivalent of a child taking a magic marker to the Mona Lisa. Nevertheless, The Lord Himself commanded us to come to Him  as a child , and perhaps one way to accomplish that is by approaching the Bible as a coloring book, seeing the masterful outlines drawn by our Savior’s hand, and coloring them in through our insignificant but cherished lives of faith.    “Like palm groves that stretch afar!” writes o...

  Balaam’s Second Oracle Numbers 23:18 a , 20 & 23 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, … “Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. … For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’”   This wondrous principle that no weapon fashioned against God’s chosen people will stand (Isaiah 54:17), that the gates of hell will never prevail over the church (Matthew 16:18), that He Who is in us is far greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4), that the most powerful source of evil himself flees at our will to resist him (James 4:7), should embolden us in the trenches of our present conflict rather than sideline us.   Think about it, friend: what if David had come down from the hills to feed his military brothers, heard Goliath mouthing off to God, and just walked away believing that God would inevitably get the final laugh? What if Mose...

  Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Henry F. Lyte’s hymn ‘Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken’)   Let the world despise and leave me,  They have left my Savior too; Human hearts and looks deceive me— You are not, like man, untrue. And when Your eyes are shining on me, God of wisdom, love, and might— Though the whole earth curse and shun me, In Your gaze my world is bright!   Let men trouble and distress me,  I’ll find refuge in your arms! When the tribulations press me— I’ll be saved by Mercy’s charms! Soon I’ll end this earthly mission, Finish these dark pilgrim days; Seeds I sowed will find fruition— Sorrows, all, transposed to praise!

  Balaam’s First Oracle Numbers 23:7 a  & 9 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, … “For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!”   The entire history of God’s chosen people is written in this singular poetic line. Both the strength of the life of faith and the struggle are represented here. In this oracle we hear the paradoxical call to be in the world, yet not of it. To live in that oscillating tug-of-war between loving the earth enough to give ourselves up for it, to sacrifice our own welfare for our neighbors’ wellbeing, while not loving the things of the world. To be a people in city streets and school boardrooms and clerical offices and hospital rooms and ball fields and capitol buildings and police stations, our presence illumining all facets of society, welcoming others to join us in our great gospel pilgrimage, yet a people well and truly  on our ow...

  A Language Barrier pt. 2 Numbers 22:34-35 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.”   Rather than confirming that Balaam really has done evil in the sight of the LORD here, the angel tells Balaam to continue on the same path, for exactly the same purpose, and, as far as we can tell, Balaam hasn’t had to change  anything . So while it isn’t part of Balaam’s commission to turn back around and consider the course, it is part of ours as exegetes. Thus, I ask again: what’s the meaning of this perplexing exchange?     Perhaps a hint is given in the angel’s word ‘reckless’ from verse 32: “Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is reckless before me.” Maybe this is a clue into some unruly motiving hiding behind ...

  A Language Barrier pt. 1 Numbers 22:20-22 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him.   God’s anger toward Balaam for obeying His exact word is so blatantly contradictory both to His character and His expressed desire for our obedience, that a literal interpretation of Numbers 22:20-22 is  literally  impossible. I don’t write that just to be clever; I write that because it’s the fact. Consider how ludicrous the hermeneutical options are when taken only  to the letter. The first interpretation is this: God tells Balaam to go with the men; Balaam obeys God’s command; God  changes His mind  in the ...

  No Solicitors!  Numbers 22:15-18 Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’” But Balaam answered … “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.”   From now on, whenever you recount heroic actions of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, whenever you think of Daniel being thrown to the lions, and young David fighting Goliath, and Mary surrendering her life to the Father’s will, think also of Balaam and his unwavering fealty to truth even when a king offered to pay him handsomely for a lie. In fact, Balaam will go on to reiterate this stance three more times in an episode that resembles Christ’s own three-fold temp...

  Out of the Shadows Numbers 22:4 b -7 a So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, …to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. … For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand.   Take the time to read Numbers Chapters 22-24 as one uninterrupted narrative, friend. From the moment Moses introduces us to this outlying, foreign prophet named Balaam, we’re thrust like a whirlwind into a vision of Almighty God’s working in the world beyond the camps of Israel. Truly, the story of Balaam is a theological treatise all its own. The back-and-forth exchanges between Balaam and God, and between Balaam and Balak, resembles...

  Sabbath Psalm (Revised from Palmer Hartsough’s hymn ‘I Am Resolved’)   I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight; Things that are higher, things that are nobler— These have allured my sight.   I am resolved to run to my Savior, Leaving all vice and strife; He is the true one, He is the just one— He has the words of life.   I am resolved to follow the Master, Faithful in word and deed; Heed what He tells me, do what He asks me— Follow Him where He leads.    I am resolved to enter the Kingdom, Leaving this world of sin. Friends may deter me; foes may oppose me— Still I will enter in.   I am resolved, yet who will go with me? Come, friends, without delay! Taught by the Scriptures, led by the Spirit— We’ll walk the gospel way.

  The Way of Kings Numbers 21:21-23 a Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of the well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory.   Such is the way of kings. Had Sihon only been a tad less greedy, he could’ve simply made the highway a toll road and asked Moses to pay a fee. Had he been only a tad less distrusting, he could’ve flanked the highway with garrisons of soldiers to ensure that Israel stuck to the path. Had he been a tad less proud, he could’ve formed a mutually beneficial alliance with Moses, offering safe passage and aid in return for a lifetime supply of milk and honey. Had he paid any attention to the miraculous tales that preceded Moses’ arrival, he could’ve offered these pilgrims fruit from his best vines and water fro...

  Lost Books Numbers 21:14-15 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of Arnon, and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.”   This will not be a comforting thought to those who like to imagine the Bible as one seamless, bubble-wrapped revelation from Heaven without missing cultural meanings and lost extra-canonical books that have, up to this point in history at least, been buried in the sands of time; but Scriptures like Numbers 21:14-15 plainly reveal that God inspired His prophets to write more for  their  generations than He decided to preserve for  ours . But be encouraged by that fact, friend! It should bolster our faith in the providence of God, not dampen it! It should stimulate newfound amazement at the wonder of God’s revelation, reminding us again that while He’s given us everything we need for life and godliness in these sixty-six books, He hasn’t g...

  The Truth Bites Numbers 21:6-8 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of  Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. …” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”   I wonder how long it took for these pilgrims to connect the dots between their sinfulness and the pestilence of vipers. How much time elapsed between the lines of the phrase, “many people of Israel died?” Unbelieving scholars try to ‘demythologize’ this account by pointing out that venomous snakes were rampant in these rocky regions, implying that the truer historical event has nothing to do with divine retribution for sin but only carelessness on the part of wilderness wanderers. In other words, according to them, what this commonwealth really needed ...

  The Hand-Off Numbers 20:27 b -29 And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. … And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.   We were there with Moses in Exodus 40 when he first dressed Aaron in these priestly robes. We stood with the congregation, watching silently, in awe of God’s creative handiwork, enthralled by the whole spectacle. We watched Aaron metamorphosize before our very eyes in his shimmering, new attire, grow ten feet taller as it were, dripping with the baptismal oil of his anointing, each droplet a glistening prism that reflected sunbeams across the commonwealth. Our jaws dropped at the finely-threaded purple and red and blue ephod, with a breastplate covered in four rows of precious gemstones, twelve in all, one for every tribe in Israel, with two go...

Numbers 20:10 b -12 “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”   Moses doesn’t write his response into the biblical text, but I imagine it went like this: “But LORD, this isn’t fair!” That’s my initial response at least. How do these complaining pilgrims walk away from this scene without any heavenly rebuke, while Moses and Aaron take the fall? Mark this scene down as one of the great head-scratchers of the Pentateuch. God didn’t cast off Moses for initially refusing to go to Egypt, nor for failing to circumcise his son, nor for shattering testimonial stones in the gorge, but now Moses strikes a...

  Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Mary D. James’ hymn ‘All for Jesus’)   All for Jesus, all for Jesus!  All my being’s ransomed powers; All my thoughts and words and actions, All my days and all my hours; All for Jesus! All for Jesus! He the Tree that in me flowers!   Let my hands perform His vision, Let  my  feet run in His ways; Let my eyes see Heaven only, Let my lips speak forth His praise! All for Jesus! All for Jesus! Now through all eternal days!   Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus, I’ve lost sight of all beside; So enthralled my spirit’s vision, Old desires crucified; All for Jesus! All for Jesus! He alone and none beside!   O what wonder! How amazing! Jesus, blessed King of kings; Chose to call me His beloved— Holds me fast beneath His wings; All for Jesus! All for Jesus! All of me, dear Lord, I bring!

  Come to the Waters Numbers 20:6 b -8 And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”   This caravan comes to another sudden halt here in Numbers 20 as the people once again grumble to Moses about their impending doom, this time over their need for water. And, of course, just like every other similar plight experienced throughout their pilgrimage, they don’t have the decency to couch their genuine thirst in kinder terms. Something like, “Moses, we’re sorry to bother you again—you’re doing a great job leading by the way—just a head’s up that our canteens are completely dry and our livestock are famished and we’re just wondering if you could kindly ask the LORD to fill our canteens!” No, they can’t say it like...