July 14 ▪ Day 195

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 19:11
Numbers 27–28
Matthew 14
Psalms 11

Verse Focus (Proverbs 19:11)

A person’s wisdom yields patience;
     it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

Meditation

I love what today’s proverb tells us! Proverbs 19:11 says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” Perhaps you too have struggled with patience. When you’re impatient, you might know that you need to gain patience, but how to go about that can seem mystifying. Here, we are told that patience is a byproduct of wisdom. Indeed, Paul tells us that patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

This is likely why it’s so challenging to work on things like patience — because we develop patience indirectly as a byproduct or a fruit of our relationship with God. But wisdom is manageable. We already have a lot of knowledge about how to acquire wisdom — as Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” So if we just keep focusing on wisdom — seeking God, praying, reading the Bible, putting it all into action — then we will change into people who become slow to anger.

The second half of the proverb tells us that it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. To overlook an offense is also wisdom from the New Testament (Colossians 3:13; Ephesians 4:32; 1 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Peter 4:8). But to say that it is your glory — a crown, even — to overlook an offense is unique to this proverb. It’s an interesting way of thinking about honor. The Hebrew word, of course, can mean beauty or splendor or even majesty in addition to glory and honor.

I spend very little time thinking about my own glory or honor (the advantages of being a peon!). But I know some people do think in these terms, and they strive to be honorable people. So if you do want to start increasing in honor, an easy way to start is by overlooking offenses.

God is glorious. I’ve never thought about His glory as coming from His forgiveness of our sins, however. But perhaps His forgiveness just adds more glory to His majesty.

Father God, thank you for what this proverb teaches us. Help us to seek you first and foremost; enable us to grow in wisdom and patience. Help us also to be humble and to set aside offenses — to forgive even before we’re asked. Give us your love so that we may love others the way you do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Numbers 27 records a ground-breaking case for inheritance. Five women, the daughters of Zelophehad (Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah), went to Moses to demand that they be given an inheritance in the Promised Land. As they said in verse 4, “Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.” When Moses consulted with the LORD, he was told that the daughters of Zelophehad “are right (v. 7).” And so a new statute and rule was entered into the books — if a man died without any sons, the inheritance would pass to a daughter. If there were no sons and no daughters, then the inheritance would pass to the man’s brothers. If he had no brothers, inheritance would go to his uncles. But, again, if there were no uncles, then the inheritance would pass to the nearest kinsman.

I’m very glad that Zelophehad’s daughters were independent women; because they fought for their rights, inheritance for daughters became part of the Mosaic code. Jewish law in general was more permissive for women than in many other cultures. Some ancient societies allowed women to own property and to represent themselves in court; however, others did not. As we know from our own history, financial and legal rights for women are not guaranteed even when there is Biblical precedent. After all, women in the United States only gained the right to vote in elections in 1920; women in Saudi Arabia did not receive the right to vote until 2015.

In Numbers 27, Moses learned that he would soon die. To his credit, his first reaction was concern about who would take on the responsibility of shepherding the people of Israel. The LORD told Moses to lay his hand on Joshua son of Nun and to commission him in front of the congregation. And so Joshua was appointed the new leader of Israel.

Numbers 28 records the sacrifices that would be required on different occasions. There would be daily sacrifices of two male lambs — one in the morning, and one at twilight. There would be weekly Sabbath offerings, monthly offerings, and offerings at Passover and the Feast of Weeks — all in addition to the daily offerings.

As I read the chapter today, it seemed to me that we should consider these patterns when we think about our own devotions to the LORD. We should have some kind of daily devotions, preferably twice a day — one in the morning and one in the evening. For the Israelites, twilight was when one day ended and the next one began. So for us, that might translate into just before bedtime — before your day ends and the next one begins.

The weekly Sabbath sacrifice essentially doubles the daily sacrifice — so perhaps we should give more time to God on the day we worship in community.

The monthly sacrifices were at the beginning of the month. And just as we thank God on holidays and at the beginning of a new year, I think we should get into the habit of thanking Him for each new month He gives us.

I also noted that for the monthly sacrifices, and for all the various feasts, each one had — in addition to whatever other sacrifices that might be offered — a sacrifice for the sin offering. This, to me, indicates that we should have dedicated times for confession and repentance. Of course, for many Christians, confession is part of their daily routine. But this is a spiritual discipline that I have a struggled to be consistent in practicing; today’s reading made me think that I should institute a monthly confessional habit.

You may not interpret this chapter as I do. Certainly I read this chapter for many, many years before it occurred to me that the patterns of Tabernacle worship might be relevant, even if the animal sacrifices are not. However, one of the questions we want to be asking as we read through Scripture is how this particular passage might apply to my life today. I would be interested to know what applications you come up with for the book of Numbers! But if this is your first time reading Numbers (or first time reading it in a very long time), perhaps some of the application questions can wait for a future reading. (Focus your application questions on the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs instead since it’s our second time through on those passages!)

In Matthew 14, Jesus learns about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. His first impulse is to get away — to find a desolate place where he can be either alone or alone with his disciples. But the crowds follow him, and he has compassion on them. So he sets aside his own desires, and he ministers to the people, healing their sick. Later, he performs the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. After everyone is fed and satisfied, Jesus dismisses the crowd and then he finally gets a chance to go be by himself and just pray.

So what do we learn about God? We learn that God grieves. We know that the Holy Spirit can be grieved over our sin, but Jesus grieved over his cousin’s death. Jesus wept with those who grieved over Lazarus’ death. Jesus feels pain and sorrow, just like we do. I do not believe that Jesus’ ability to feel sorrow is a function of his humanity; I believe we have the capacity to feel sorrow because our Creator has the ability to feel sorrow. But somehow I never really thought about God’s ability to feel emotional pain before — except in the case of our sin. Perhaps it’s always sin and its consequences that hurts God. But while it was Herod’s sin and pride that caused John the Baptist’s death, I think it was primarily the loss of John that hurt Jesus — not the sin that caused his death. Being Jesus, he knew that death would be defeated. So he had hope that he would see his cousin again. But he grieved for the present loss and the current separation. Jesus grieved both the loss of John himself, and the loss of all that John might have accomplished. Despite his grief, however, Jesus was very much in control of himself and his emotions. He was able to set his sorrow aside to focus on the people, to heal their diseases.

As I think about Jesus grieving, I also think of God the Father grieving. I don’t know if God feels sorrow Himself when His saints die. Maybe He does. The thing about God and His emotions, though, is that He is always perfectly in control. He is not overwhelmed by His emotions the way we can be.

I don’t know if we can fully understand what God is like in His emotions — perhaps the emotions are always present, and it is our circumstances that allows us to see the different aspects of how God feels. So sometimes we understand that we have disappointed God, and other times we see the depth of His great love for us.

At any rate, I’m grateful for seeing today some of the significance behind Jesus’ grieving.

When Jesus is about to feed the five thousand, in verse 19 it says, “He looked up to heaven and said a blessing.” Jesus thanks God for the food. That’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. Not only does it model the practice of saying grace over our food, but it models an attitude of thanksgiving. Jesus connects to God the Father as he is about to perform this miracle. He looks to the Source — not only the source of food and health, but the source of blessing, the source of miracles, the source of everything.

Indeed, this is why Jesus sought time alone to pray. He needed the Father and the things only the Father could give — comfort, reassurance, strength, and fellowship. So the next time you receive bad news, make it your priority to meet alone with God. Tell Him about your distress. Let His Holy Spirit comfort you and strengthen your heart.

Psalm 11 talks about the LORD being in His holy temple, sitting on His throne. Verse 4b says, in the ESV, “His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of men.” What? I’m used to the NIV, which says, “He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.” Or the CSB, which says, “His eyes watch; his gaze examines everyone.”

So I looked at the Hebrew interlinear version to see what words were being used. Sure enough, the word being translated as “examine” also means to test, to try, to tempt, to investigate, and to prove. So I was thinking of “examine” in terms of “close regard” — but I think we do need to also understand the meanings of testing, trying, proving, and investigating.

The “eyelids” thing is apparently a Hebrew expression. It does mean God’s gaze. His looking at you. Figuratively, the word can also mean a morning ray, or a dawning. So when God looks at you, when you see the first rays of His being, that is what tests you. Perhaps it’s a bit like the idea of the eyes being a window to the soul — when we meet God’s eyes we see His character; it is God’s very character, His holiness, and His justice, as well as His mercy and compassion that tests our own characters.

Verse 5 says, “The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” With this verse we understand that testing is a good thing. God is refining us. Note that God does not bother to test the wicked!

The psalm concludes with a reminder that God is righteous. “He loves righteous deeds,” says verse 7. “The upright shall behold his face.”

Father God, thank you for the psalm’s reminder that you test those you love. You examine us and allow us to go through trials because you want to make us into better people. You remove the dross from our souls and change us into the image of Christ. We don’t always appreciate your attention, but I’m thankful that you do care for us. And I’m grateful that you are transforming us.

Thank you too for reminding me that your emotions are deeply felt and integral to your character. Thank you for Jesus’ compassion for the crowds. Even when he was hurting, he put others above himself.

Finally, Father God, I thank you for some insight into the book of Numbers. These passages can be challenging to read. Continue to reveal yourself and to help us see how your Word applies to us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.