Day 44: Num 2:1 - 3:51

It's important to see how God commanded Moses to count all of the adult males of all of the tribes except Levi. God wanted to make sure that everyone knew just how strong their army was. I think it's  so important in our Christian lives to understand that when we follow God, the devil will always be against us and he will always be thinking of ways to attack us. If we have absolutely no idea how we're supposed to protect ourselves, then we've lost the battle before it's even begun. God had Moses count all of the men who would be soldiers and He had them come up with a marching strategy so that if and when the enemy attacked, they wouldn't just run around like crazy wondering why "all these bad things always happen to us," but they would stand up and march to meet their opposition.

In chapter 3, I learned something that I'm not sure if I ever paid attention to. God decided to separate the entire tribe of Levi and use them as a substitute for all of the firstborn sons of the rest of the tribes. "Coincidentally," the number of Levite males made up for 99% of all of the firstborn sons throughout the rest of the nation. In other words, instead of every parent forcing their firstborn son to commit his entire life to working at the Tabernacle, it just so happened that the number of Levite males was almost the exact number needed for the Tabernacle to be taken care of. Hhhmmmm, I wonder if this is in any way a shadow of another priest who came down as a man to take our place before the Father to make atonement for our sins. Very interesting!

- Father, help me to always be prepared to fight regardless of how things are going on around me. Although I have Your protection, I understand that the devil will still try to attack me and I want to make sure that I'm ready. Help me to remember You Word and write it on the tablet of my heart so that when the devil does attack, I'll be ready to march out and take him down. -