He Is Enough (Lev. 9-10; Num. 10)

Studying Exodus and reading through Leviticus and Numbers now has made me eager to read even more. Honestly, it is hard to stop at just a few chapters of study each day. Maybe that’s not exactly what you’ve always heard though about these “dry” chapters of the Bible. I have always heard that I will get bogged down if I read through these in order, but I have to say that this time that has definitely not been the case. I was so pumped up about my lengthy time reading Exodus that my summer group is now studying it, and I am extending my study to better have the full picture. God’s character and nature clearly reveal themselves in these books, showing that He is not only compassionate and slow to anger but also loving and sovereign. 

His presence is truly all that is necessary, yet we often get distracted or lost in the desert that this world is and forget that truth. I was reminded of this today as I was reading in Leviticus. God’s cloud covering over the tabernacle by day, which had the appearance of fire by night, led His people continuously (9:15-16, NASB), a visible sign that He was with them. I have thought in the past of the wonder of being able to visibly see that God’s presence is with me, but I know in my heart that just as it was not enough to keep His people from sinning, it would not be enough for me either. A visible reminder is not what I need. So I ask myself what it is that I need. What would be enough for me, the one who at times in my life has been rarely satisfied, often grumbling and complaining about things irrelevant to my spiritual life? The answer is simple and complicated at the same time. He is enough.

Over the years as I have read and studied through the Word, I have not always been consistent in my daily reading, my time alone with God. I have let the cares of the world choke me at times, and at others I have let my fascination with the world’s distractions pull me from my time with Him. I have let raising three small children who quickly grew into adolescents and then teenagers and adults distract me, often thinking myself too busy to truly study. While I had extended seasons of study (often daily), it was not always meaningful, but rather a going through the motions. I let my dreams for my life get in the way of not only my time with Him but my satisfaction with His presence—as if I needed something more to be content, as if He alone was not enough. I have let my struggles while working get in the way often, thinking these, too, were keeping me from being all I could be. The answer is simple and complicated at the same time. He alone is enough; He alone could ever be, and in these times of struggle, I just couldn’t see it.

As I continued reading today in Leviticus, I read about the fashioning of the silver trumpets to be blown for assembling the leaders of Israel or the heads of divisions among them, to be used as an alarm for moving the camp in an orderly fashion when the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle and set out in the wilderness, to be employed to convene an assembly or to go to war (which by the way is interesting . . . Did you know that the trumpets weren’t sounded to inspire fear of the impending attack on the enemy but rather that the Israelites would be remembered before the LORD, who alone could save from their enemies (10:15)? But it’s the last use of the silver trumpets that made my connection today. 

Numbers 10:10 says this: “Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God” (NASB, revised). The key here is the reminder that the LORD my God is enough. If I want to have what I need, truly need, what I need to remember is that it is He alone who saves. It is He alone who determines when I rise up, move, rest, labor, interact with others. He alone appoints the seasons of my life, either moving me or disciplining or correcting me in love if I move away from Him. He alone is my defender. Do I truly need a visible reminder of a God who is present in my midst as the Israelites did? No. I shouldn’t. I have the living God within me, Christ in me, my hope of glory (Col. 1:27), and as the preceding verses tell in Colossians, I have the word of God, which is the mystery hidden from past generations (those in Numbers . . .) and which is now revealed to us, the “riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.”

In Psalm 16, David writes, “I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely” (8-9). In the past when I have struggled, it is when I have failed to set the LORD continually before me. When I have done that, my focus has been on the problem or joy before me, but that is wrong. If I focus continually on Him, the problem or joy or peace or rest are never the focus; He is. Did I mention that He alone is enough? In Him alone there is peace, joy, rest, comfort, strength, fruit. It is in knowing this that I keep seeking more of Him. I hope that you are, too!