The plan I took up was one put together by Nicky & Pippa Gumbel, the vicar of HTB church and the pioneer of Alpha (www.bibleinoneyear.org). Daily passages were given from
the old and new testaments and there was a short commentary.
While reading through the Bible, my least favorite passages were those that involved census' taking, and there seemeto be lots of them. I found it odd that so much time was given to the counting and recording of what seemed to be unimportant details. In most cases, not only were the people counted according to their clans and tribes, but all their animals were also counted as well as their gold, silver and any other valuable possession they had. Imagine the time spent for such an exercise.
There are quite a few censuses in the Bible; on leaving Egypt a census was taken, before entering the promised land a census was taken. Kind David took a census to know how many able bodied men were in the land, on return from exile in Babylon a census was taken, to mention a few.
A few days ago I read of yet another census in Ezra (one of the last few books) and again I wondered why this was important. In this particular case, it was only after the census they realized they did not have enough men from the priestly clan to perform the priestly duties.
While in the wilderness waiting to go into the promised land,
it was with the census they knew what their military might
it was with the census they knew what their military might
was against their enemies whose land they were about to occupy.
When they had occupied the promised land, it was with the knowledge of the number of people per clan that the portions of land were allocated.
It was because every single sacred vessel in the temple was counted that they knew what the King of Babylon had taken
away and what needed to be returned with them when they were released from exile.
It was because those details had been noted that the
returnees from exile knew exactly how the temple should be rebuilt as the weight and dimensions of every nook and cranny had been noted and recorded.
returnees from exile knew exactly how the temple should be rebuilt as the weight and dimensions of every nook and cranny had been noted and recorded.
There was no detail left unrecorded, every thing was
captured.
It told me something about God. There is a popular saying 'The devil is in the details'. I beg to disagree, 'God is in the details'. How often we miss something, or we fail to see, or comprehend because we skim over the surface and do not try to explore the depth, to dig into the details.
I know if I had paid a little more attention to the details in my personal and professional life this year, I would be so much the better for it. God allowed me to through the year constantly prodding me with this until I understood that it's all in the details.
I will repeat the Bible in one year challenge this year, please join me https://bible.com/p/400781/c45f1b8dccd74ead201315b9903ff26b.
