Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 1:5-15 (New Living Translation)

5 “These are the tribes and the names of the leaders who will assist you:
Reuben Elizur son of Shedeur
6 Simeon Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
7 Judah Nahshon son of Amminadab
8 Issachar Nethanel son of Zuar
9 Zebulun Eliab son of Helon
10 Ephraim son of Joseph Elishama son of Ammihud
Manasseh son of Joseph Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
11 Benjamin Abidan son of Gideoni
12 Dan Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
13 Asher Pagiel son of Ocran
14 Gad Eliasaph son of Deuel
15 Naphtali Ahira son of Enan

The people are out of Egypt and wandering around. It is close to the time to enter the land promised to them. God told Moses to, “…record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families.”

Then we have this list of those who are to assist in the task. This is the part of Bible reading where we skip down a few inches on the page because we can’t pronounce the names and these folks are all long gone anyways, so what’s the difference?

There are a million or so folks out there with Moses. God names twelve specific men to help Moses. God knew the names of every single person in the great, big mass of persons. God knew their name, their father’s name, their grandfather’s name, and on and on for 400 years of fathers and names. Every single person in all those lines of relatives was important to God. And God didn’t even have a database or content management system to track it all and Google to find what was needed.

Every person was in God’s heart.

I believe nothing has changed since that day in the desert when God demonstrated the importance of every single person. God knows every single person alive today and considers each one of us important.

Maybe one day I will learn how to pronounce all those names in that list and I won’t skip over them as I read. An important thing to remember is that God knows and remembers and notices me as I sit in a coffee shop drinking my now cold coffee and God has a plan for me. Perhaps I am not to count the million persons, but I am to do something of great importance in someone’s life.