Does His Mercy Move You?
For some, it only takes one time. One time for the Lord to show Himself to you. One time to be so amazed that His mercy and majesty has won you over. In this case, it was the commanders and officers over the Israelites. Let’s take a look at Numbers 31…
For context, the Lord told the Israelites through Moses to take vengeance on Midianites for having seduced the children of Israel to idolatry. Therefore, He commanded that the children of Israel are to go to war against the Midianites.
Numbers 31:1-3 AMP
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people [in death].” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, so that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian [for seducing Israel to participate in idolatry]. [Num 25:16-18]”
Now I don’t know about you, but when I think of war, I assume that someone is going to die. That’s just the nature of war, right? However, that was not the case with the children of Israel. Remember, we serve a mighty God who can do anything!
Matthew 19:26
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
After having gone to war and counting up the plunder that was taken from war, the commanders and chiefs of Israel noticed something…
Numbers 31:48-49 AMP
“Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, approached Moses, and they said to him, “Your servants have counted the warriors under our command, and not one man of us is missing.”
You guys, not a SINGLE soldier was missing! Isn’t that incredible? Twelve thousand men were selected to fight in the war but, by the Lord’s grace and mercy, not a single one was missing when the war was over. Let that sink in…
Numbers 31: 4-5
“A thousand [fighting men] from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war. So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were selected, twelve thousand armed for war”
So how did the Lord’s mercy move these soldiers? They gave everything they had! They knew this was no ordinary happenstance, so they brought an offering before the Lord in ADDITION to the levy of tax the Lord required. (Numbers 31:28-29)
Numbers 31:50
“So we have brought as an offering to the Lord what each man obtained—articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”
Once the officers realized what the Lord had done, that was it! They were won over. So circling back to the title of this devotional, does His mercy move you?(Romans 2:4) Does it stir up your very being? Does it cause you to give all you have and then some?
If not, perhaps check your heart posture…