Can you count the number of people? God Can. Ok, I get the point. This was my initial thought as I read the first chapter of Numbers. Each verse began the same. " From the descendants of ________ : All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. 21 The number from the tribe of ______ was ___." Over and over it read, all the same. That is, until the name. The name change made the passage unique. With the name change was a number change as well. I slowed down, purposefully. I read the passage, all 12 times. One for each of the tribes of Israel. I did not want to rush through, though another part of me wished I would just scan and jump to the last verse. But oh what a treasure I would have missed if I listened to the impatient self instead of the ever-patient Spirit.
"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so you may obey it." Deut 30:14