“Still, You hear me when I'm calling. Lord, You catch me when I'm falling, and You've told me who I am…” – Casting Crowns 📞 Dear fading flower, In terms of our present life, we’re just like plants whose days on earth are numbered. Like pretty, fragrant flowers, we bloom but then wither. God doesn’t intend for us to die, but when sin opened its eye, it craved owning God’s position, which is a lie. No one can take God’s place. He’s the one true God, and though other people don’t believe Him, it doesn’t change who He is. There’s one Truth and that’s Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We last stopped at Numbers 14. Now we’re taking a detour to a different book of the Bible. Let’s look at the first psalm ever written . Moses wrote this after God said the passage I featured in the entry before this . (← Click the link to read.)   Psalm 90:3-10 (NKJV) 3 You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like y...

“I believe, help Thou my unbelief. I walk into the unknown, trusting all the while.” – Gaither Vocal Band 🦶 Dear seditious skeptic, You saw a great problem, and you forgot God is greater. You chose not to trust. In black and white, that makes you a hater. The fact is that we’re imperfect people. We do not always love God. There are times we fail. We’re definitely not haters all the time, but at that specific moment when we choose to doubt, it’s like we’re saying, “I don’t agree God can __________.” You fill in the blank with an example of what you’ve worried about before. Because of such false beliefs, we might choose to disobey God. Let’s see how God punishes the Israelites because their doubt grew into a decision to rebel. Numbers 14:27-34 (NASB) 27 “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are voicing against Me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as you have ...

"No place I would rather be than here in Your love, here in Your love." – Will Reagan & United Pursuit 🧭 Dear lost loiterer, Do you have no idea where you're heading? Don't know where you should be going? I think everyone has been in the middle of a crossroad before, that spot where you’re given options and you don’t know which to choose. The passage that we’re going to look at is how the Israelites were led in the wilderness. We’re in the book of Numbers, but this was already mentioned in Exodus. It’s told briefly in Exodus 40:34-38. Let’s see the more detailed account in Numbers. Numbers 9:15-18, 22-23 (NASB) 15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning. 16 That is how it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was lifted fr...

“And I will build my life upon Your love. It is a firm foundation.” – Housefires 🔨 Dear cherished child, You have a Refuge you can call your home. Let your heart be His throne. Let Him rule over you. Let Him call you His own. I’m talking about God, particularly the Father. There’s only one God, but He has three Persons, and I’d like us to consider the Father, not only because it’s Father’s Day, but mainly because it’s where the Book of Numbers started. Let’s see what I’m talking about. Numbers 1:1-4 (NASB) Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head 3 from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by...

“Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er His foes” – Robert Lowry 💪 Dear cold corpse, Do you want to warm yourself under the bright sun? Do you want a reason to get up and run? Ever since sin came to this world, all are dead people walking until they have the Life. Through a lesson material, I was asked by my student what my favorite holidays were. I’m an English tutor, and this student chose to study a conversation lesson on holidays. Anyway, I said that Christmas was my favorite and Easter was my second favorite. If he had asked why I like Christmas the most, my answer would be "It's because of Easter." Say what now? I wouldn't tell him that because he wouldn't understand. I don't think he's Christian because at first he thought Easter was Halloween. He did ask, though, again through the material, why I like Easter. I said it's because it celebrates life. If we were just having a conversation and not a lesson, I would have el...

“Almighty vengeance, how it burns! How bright his fury glows!” – Isaac Watts 😖 Dear reckless rebel, You’re aware it’s wrong, but you do it anyway. You’re warned the punishment’s strong, but you still disobey. This happens to both believers and nonbelievers. The difference is believers strive hard not to sin while nonbelievers easily give in to fleshly desires within. It’s not that we, the faithful, worship God and the faithless don’t worship any god; it’s that non-Christians live for another idol other than the true God. If you’re not a Christian, you might think what I believe in is all about following rules, especially now that I’m tackling the Books of the Law. Yes, I live by God’s commands, but my obedience doesn’t admit me to heaven. We can only get there through faith in Jesus Christ. Obeying Him is the fruit of having Him as our Lord. But what was it like before Christ came here when what the people only had was the law? If you’ve been following along this blog, I ho...

“Where You are, Lord, I am free. Holiness is Christ in me.” – Matt Maher 🤍 Dear stained soul, Does the guilt in your conscience discomforts your essence? Do you think you’re unforgivable? To get past your vice, are you unable? We all fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). The ever good news is Christ forgives, blots out all sin, and renews us amazingly. Once we’re His, we’re called to be holy. My previous epistle ’s subtitle is “Set Apart from the Mundane.” Holy means exactly that. I presented how sins are taken away in Old Testament times and closed by saying that Jesus is the ultimate atonement. Now, we’ll see what holiness practically was. Leviticus 20:22-26 (NASB) 22 ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. 23 Furthermore, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; therefo...