Post by dawn on Feb 12, 2018 16:41:22 GMT -5
I started reading Numbers today. Again, not one of my favorite books of the Bible, but placed there by God for a purpose. As I was reading of the numbering of the Israelites for the purpose of warfare I thought about how the Levites might feel about being left out of the count. I thought about the nature of their chosen-ness, how it might seem to them. They were called to serve and to many of them it may have felt pretty lowly. They couldn't go to war and become heroes. They couldn't own land so they didn't have the capital to become wealthy. What they did may have seemed insignificant -- just putting up, taking down, and carrying "stuff". But the "stuff" they carried was holy. No one else was allowed to do what they were called to do. So a Levite could feel one of two ways -- he could feel deprived, insignificant, lowly -- or he could feel chosen, valued, significant. It really was his choice. It made me think about women. You notice they weren't counted in Numbers either. We are called to serve -- to have babies and care for the home and the children (among other things -- we aren't limited to these things). Picking up, putting away, cleaning. We have a choice how we will see what it means to be a woman. It is a holy thing to be able to bear children. Men can't do it. I have to admit that much of my life I have struggled with what it means to be a woman. I have felt deprived and de-valued because of what I couldn't do. I have wondered how God looks at women, since in many ways they seem to be overlooked in the Bible. But I'm coming to realize that as women we are chosen, we are significant. (We will see it more clearly when we start reading the Gospels and see how Jesus interacted with women). God numbers us, even if man doesn't. He not only numbers us, He knows us each by name.
"He determines the number of the stars, and calls them each by name." Psalm 147:4
"He determines the number of the stars, and calls them each by name." Psalm 147:4