Counted in the Desert

Leviticus is done, but now I am reading in Numbers and it is equally challenging!  But I read somewhere that the Jewish title for the book of Numbers is "In the Wilderness" so I have had anticipation to see what God has to say to me in this book.  I am not disappointed on this first day!

Numbers 1:19 And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai.

“Desert” or “wilderness” (as some versions put it) conjures up a picture of barrenness and dryness, to me.  A desert is nothing but the same thing from horizon to horizon, a dismal place where nothing is new or exciting, where everything appears to be dead.  So the phrase in this verse that says Moses counted the people in the desert brings a spark of newness and life that I was not expecting.  Counting the Children of Israel brings a picture of potential … possibilities must be there for the future. Every person mattered.  They were counted even though they were in the middle of the desert.  The desert must not be the end of it all.  And that is my reminder that no matter how dismal things may look to me at any given time, even in my slowing down with age, everything is being “counted,” being noticed by God.  I matter to God no matter what my circumstances may seem to be; I am counted.  I won’t always be in the desert.