Let’s look at Numbers and talk about the Israelites leaving Egypt and heading into the wilderness. Moses tells the spies to move ahead of the group and see what this new land has to offer. The report is…the land is uninhabitable; the people refuse to do God’s will. Moses goes up Mt. Sinai where God gives him the Ten Commandments. What happens with this group of Israelites in the first four books of the Bible? Why does the number of people in Moses’ caravan start to diminish?

God’s Word does not return void. It is alive and powerful. Scripture is God’s revelation for our lives, a life-changing seed that He plants inside of us. God told Moses exactly how to design the tabernacle because He wanted a place where He could dwell with the Children of Israel. Today, He still wants to spend time with his children. Do you make time to seek Him?

Jacob did not believe it when Joseph’s brothers told him that Joseph was alive. The truth can often be hard to believe, while lies are more easily accepted. Why does the Bible call Jacob “Israel” later in life? We must learn to listen to our inner spirit (our discernment, God’s direction), and not only trust what we can see in front of us. Putting your faith in truth (in God) revives your spirit.

In this life, there will be hard places that strike at inconvenient times. David knew something about this. He fought and won 18 major battles by the time he was an older man. In Psalm 18 David thanks God for delivering him from his enemies. Life will take you through hard places, but the Lord is the rock of your salvation!

What are God’s conditions for peace? The Bible gives us the secret to lasting peace, peace in the midst of the storm that the world didn’t give, and the world can’t take away. You don’t just stumble into peace; you make it happen with God’s help. Blessed is the peacemaker.

No one is named as the author of Genesis, but we hold to the idea that Moses is the author of the first five books of the Bible. Let’s talk about how we came to that assumption. Many people refer to the first five books as the Torah or the Pentateuch. The theme of Genesis is origins. Where did the heavens and earth come from? What about the origin of man and sin? This is all discussed in Genesis, the foundation on which the other books of the Bible are built.

Our blessed hope is the Prince of Peace. He is our Comforter in times of sorrow, the Shepherd that shows up when we have lost our way. Hope thou in God. He will never fail you! Hope is not wishful thinking, it is God’s gift to the Believer, based on the Word of God.

In the Book of John, the author wants to establish that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal and divine son. The theme of John’s book is that in Christ we have light and life. Christ is the light that shines in every generation. John records eight distinct miracles and establishes that Jesus was both God and man, the Word made flesh. He ties together several things that happened throughout Scripture so the reader can understand the same God was there in the beginning (in Genesis), He spoke to Moses (in Exodus), and He continues to be with us today. Jesus came that we might have life in His name.

Do you know the God of the Bible, or do you simply know about Him? Do you have a relationship with Him? Are you saved by the standards outlined in the Bible? Glory in the fact that you know the Lord, not in personal riches or accomplishments. In this, God delights.