29 July 2009 Devotion for Today “The Numbers” Ezra 2:1-2

29 July 2009 Devotion for Today “The Numbers” Ezra 2:1-2

Now^a]"> these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.² Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar,Bigvai, Rehum^]and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel.”

I recently saw the obituary on line of a gentleman who had been in a church I pastored back in the 1980s. It made me sad to think that he had died, but a scene from my memory flashed into my mind. He called me very upset and said he would be over to see me in ten minutes. As I waited for him to arrive, the tension mounted- what could he want? When he finally showed up at the door, he did not look pleased. He had gotten himself dressed up just so that he could intimidate me. Then after a few tense greetings, the man started in on me, how I was driven by success- a desire to succeed- as he put it. Then as I listened, he said, “You don’t care about anything but numbers! Numbers, numbers, numbers, nickels and noses, is all they taught you down there in that seminary!” The words stung, and, were partially true. I did have a desire to succeed, but more than anything I had a desire to serve my Lord. After all, I was in my late twenties- and had a lot of youthful enthusiasm to reach people for Christ. And it was probably true, I did not have a lot of wisdom, but how could he mistake my heart like that? He left the house and slammed the door. He and his wife soon left our church. I felt sorry for him, but I began to ask the Lord to help me examine my motives.

I came to the conclusion that, as bent on success as I was, the numbers indeed did matter. Each number represents person- an individual- for whom Christ died. There was no other way to qualify it. I think what the man in question was concerned about was that perhaps I needed to spend more time loving the so-called numbers who showed up in my congregation.

If I were like the gentleman I just described to you, I would read the Scripture passage at the beginning of this second chapter and completely over look it, and move on to chapter three. Ezra makes careful records of the number of people who are accompanying him back to Israel from exile. He does so for a very important reason. He does not do this to demonstrate success or to bolster his ego. He lists first of all the leaders of Israel who came out of King Cyrus’ court- Nehemiah, Baanah, Jeshua, and Zerubbabel. Mordecai is also named, but I do not think he is the same Mordecai of Esther’s fame. People’s names are listed and counted several times throughout this chapter- if not for any other reason than to demonstrate that when it comes to the numbers, God knows how to get things done.

We preachers do have to keep things in perspective when we see our congregations growing that we do not become overcome with the feeling of our own self-importance. God is the one who placed those numbers there- we can be sure about that. But we ought not to discount the numbers, either. Sometimes I think that those who would have a disdain for them are masking either their own jealousy or laziness. After all, If numbers were not important to God, why would there be a special book in the law of Moses with that name?- Numbers?

Have a blessed day!