#40. Numbers 1-4 | A Cross In the Wilderness
Traveling through the wilderness is not a new experience for believers of God. Whether we arrive there due to our own sin, the sin of someone else, or if God is preparing us for something better, this is a training ground for trust. Just as Israel had to trust God to faithfully provide in a barren land, we can look to the Lord to give us our daily bread when we don't understand how He will meet our needs. In the book of Numbers, God continues to point to the greater priest and the sacrifice to come: Jesus Christ.
Today's Reading: Numbers 1-4
Scripture Read or Referenced:
Numbers 1:1-3, 47-54
Numbers 3:5-13
Matthew 4
Looking for hope and purpose in a season of emptiness? Watch this video about the wilderness. https://bibleproject.com/videos/the-wilderness/
Transcript
Welcome to the Dwelling Place
from Entrusted Ministries.
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:I'm Stephanie Hickox,
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:and today we're opening
the book of numbers.
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:chapters one through four.
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:Numbers covers 39 years and
two generations of Israelites.
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:And we'll get to ask ourselves,
which generation our hearts
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:and our lives look more like.
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:you can find our free Bible reading
resources on our website, which
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:I've linked in the show notes.
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:if you've already listened, then please
leave a review so that other moms can find
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:encouragement from God's word as well.
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:it's interesting when we think about
the Pentateuch which is a name for the
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:first five books of the Bible, we have
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers.
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:Deuteronomy
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:Numbers is the only book.
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:In which we actually call it by an English
word, the Jewish name for the book is
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:Biid by bar, meaning in the wilderness.
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:And that seems appropriate because this
entire book takes place in the wilderness.
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:Remember even Jesus attributed these
books of the law to Moses, And he would've
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:written it in the final year of his life.
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:Probably in about 1405 bc.
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:It is gonna begin where we left off
in Leviticus and it will end with a
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:new generation of Israelites camped
on one side of the Jordan River,
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:ready to enter the promised land
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:and begin conquering in Jericho.
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:Scholars find this a difficult book
of the Bible to even outline some
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:find that it works best based on where
the Israelites were at geographically
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:on chapters one through 10.
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:They're still at the base of
Mount Sinai in 10 through 20.
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:They're traveling in the wilderness
of Kadesh Baria, and in 20 through
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:36, they're in the plains of Moab.
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:Some prefer to outline it
based on the first generation
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:and then the second generation
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:and though the title might make it seem
like it is just genealogies and numbers.
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:There are actually many different genres.
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:In the book of numbers,
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:you'll have travel itineraries,
historical narrative, poetry,
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:law, and of course numbers.
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:Steph: This is an insight I have
to give credit to the Bible project
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:four, because they compared the
opening of the book of numbers to
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:the opening of the book of Leviticus.
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:I'll read them both.
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:See if you can hear the difference.
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:Leviticus one, one.
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:The Lord called Moses and spoke
to him from the tent of meeting.
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:And then numbers one, one says The Lord
spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai.
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:In the tent of meeting
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:It worked.
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:All of these directions for the people
to be able to dwell with the Holy God.
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:They worked because in Leviticus,
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:god was inside that
temporary dwelling place.
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:And Moses was outside,
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:but now in numbers.
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:God spoke to Moses in the tent.
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:I also relied On the Bible project to
gimme a little bit more insight about the
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:concept of the wilderness in scripture.
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:And these are the highlights.
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:They said there are different
reasons to be on in the wilderness.
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:Sometimes it's a result
of our own decisions.
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:Think about Moses.
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:After he murdered the Egyptian,
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:He ran into the wilderness on his own.
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:But sometimes we're there on
account of other bad decisions.
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:Do you remember Hagar
when she was cast out?
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:But in both situations, God met them there
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:because God can be preparing us in the
wilderness and during this time he often
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:provides only what we need at that moment.
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:They concluded saying.
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:The key to succeeding in the wilderness is
the same key to succeeding in the garden.
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:It's listening to the Lord's voice
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:and Jesus was in the wilderness
before he began his public ministry.
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:and he was victorious, because
he listened to God's voice.
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:As we walk through the wilderness
wanderings with the Israelites,
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:we're sure to be convicted about the
places where we're also being tempted
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:to not listen to the Lord's voice.
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:Numbers one.
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:One begins.
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:The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness
of Sinai in the 10 of meeting on
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:the first day of the second month.
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:In the second year after they had
come out of the land of Egypt saying,
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:take a census of all the congregation
of the people of Israel by clans,
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:by father's houses, according to the
number of names, every male, head by
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:head from 20 years old and upward, all
in Israel, who are able to go to war.
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:You and Aaron shall list
them company by company,
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:And in 1 47, but the Levites
were not listed along with
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:them by their ancestral tribe.
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:For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying Only
the tribe of Levi, you shall not list.
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:And you shall not take a census of them
among the people of Israel, but appoint
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:the Levites over the tabernacle of the
testimony and over all its furnishings
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:and over all that belongs to it.
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:They are to carry the tabernacle
and all its furnishings, and
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:they shall take care of it and
shall camp around the tabernacle.
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:When the tabernacle is to set out,
the Levites shall take it down.
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:And when the tabernacle is to be
pitched, the Levites shall set
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:it up, and if any outsider comes
near, he shall be put to death.
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:The people of Israel shall pitch
their tents by their companies,
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:each man and his own camp, and
each man by his own standard.
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:But the Levites shall camp around
the tabernacle of the testimony.
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:So that there may be no wrath on the
congregation of the people of Israel,
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:and the Levites shall keep guard
over the tabernacle of the testimony,
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:thus did the people of Israel.
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:They did according to all
that the Lord commanded Moses
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:and in numbers three.
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:And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
behold, I have taken the Levites
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:from among the people of Israel.
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:Instead of every firstborn who
opens the womb among the people of
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:Israel, the Levites shall be mine.
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:For all the firstborn are mine.
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:On the day that I struck down all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I
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:consecrated for my own all the firstborn
in Israel, both of man and a beast.
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:They shall be mine.
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:I am the Lord.
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:It might not seem that exciting to
hear the numbers of the tribes and
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:how they were arranged, But we're
gonna see something really beautiful
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:just as we do every time
we dig into God's word.
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:In the very center was
the tabernacle of meeting.
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:This is where God made his
dwelling place with the Israelites.
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:And then around that the Levites,
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:God claimed them perhaps because
of their zeal after the golden calf
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:incident but the Lord claims them to
serve him in this way, and he divides
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:them into three different sections.
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:And they all got to camp
around a different side.
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:And the Levites are divided into the
Tite, the Kotite, and the mayor rights.
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:And then we also have
Moses, Aaron, and his sons.
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:And they were given the place
of honor east of the tabernacle.
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:Are you picturing it with
the tabernacle in the middle?
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:The Levites stationed all around with
Moses and Aaron and his sons on the
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:east side, and now we're gonna find out
the placement of Israel's tribes around
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:To the north we have the tribe of Dan.
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:Asher and Naftali,
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:totaling about 150,000.
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:And then to the South, the
tribe of Reuben, Simeon, and
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:Gad also totaling about 150,000.
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:We can imagine that these would
take up equal space on the
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:north and the south to the west.
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:The tribes of Ephraim,
Vanessa and Benjamin.
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:Remember when Israel
was blessing his sons?
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:And he blessed Joseph's sons instead
of seeing Joseph's name, both of his
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:sons are getting an inheritance here.
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:And instead of that adding up to 13,
the Levites have a different role.
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:So it's still 12 tribes.
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:Now let's go to the east where
we have the place of honor.
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:Thinking back to Israel's blessings,
he elevated Judah above his brothers,
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:and we're seeing that play out
because Judah is the largest tribe.
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:Then we have Iscar and Zebulon.
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:The tribes to the west were
about 110,000, but the tribes
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:to the east are almost 190,000.
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:So where the north and the south
were about equal in number.
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:The West would've been a
shorter section than the east,
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:if you could diagram it, you
would see a picture of a cross.
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:And in the center is the place where
sacrifices were offered to God.
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:This is another time
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:where the Old Testament points beautifully
to the future sacrifice of Jesus
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:If you're a visual person.
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:Perhaps you wanna make a diagram.
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:I was visiting a Bible study of Betsy's
once, and one of the women had made
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:a diagram and then she marked when
each tribe rebelled and she noticed
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:a definite pattern if you're looking
for something to really make this book
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:of the Bible come alive for you, I,
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:that might be a helpful idea.
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:It really is amazing that God
provided Everything that they
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:needed in the wilderness.
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:When we look at these numbers of the
census, and remember, these are only
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:men of a certain age, a reasonable
estimate would be that it's about two
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:to two and a half million people that
God was caring for in the wilderness.
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:We know he did this supernaturally.
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:The other night I got to talk to
several moms that are in some really
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:difficult financial situations and
God keeps showing up at the last
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:minute, but they were sharing how
difficult it was to trust This same
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:God that provides in the wilderness
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:is a God who sees you,
who sees your children.
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:He was faithful to the Israelites,
and he will be faithful to you.
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:Now we can be so thankful that
as he dwells with us, he guides
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:us in practical wisdom, but he
also gives us his words to trust
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:when he's telling us to wait on him.
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:And it's those moms that
are feeling that numbers
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:and the lack of provision are
a source of struggle right
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:now that I'd like to focus on.
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:In our prayer.
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:Heavenly Father, as Jesus prayed,
give us this day our daily bread.
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:I do ask that you would provide
for each mom listening and
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:provide for her children.
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:Give us wisdom about what we really
need and what we can go without.
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:That we could say like, Paul, we have
learned the secret to be content in
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:all situations, whether rich or poor,
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:forgive us.
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:For our lack of faith when you
have been faithful time after time.
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:We thank you for your grace
and your patience with us
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:As we continue to seek testimonies,
give us wisdom to know how to share
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:with our kids so we could build
up their faith and trust in you.
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:But not cause them to
stress when money is tight.
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:I also pray for moms who feel like
they're in an emotional wilderness
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:right now, whether they're
feeling alone or discouraged.
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:And I pray that we would all faithfully
use this time to prepare us for what
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:you have in the next season to come.
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:Jesus, we thank you.
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:For the model you provided for
us in the wilderness, it's in
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:your victorious name we pray.
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:Amen.
