They did it all
Numbers 1: The People of Israel did everything that God commanded Moses. They did it all.
The story of the Israelites seems to be either “hot” or “cold.” They either march forward in victorious obedience or shrink back in the sin of unbelief. I think that’s rather unfair. For one thing, by its very nature the Bible is a book of spectacular success or spectacular failure. At times decades of ordinary events are skipped to jump to the next big event. The first chapter of Numbers sets up the census and the coming description of other everyday duties of various servants. The mountain top of the Ten Commands is history and the failure to enter Canaan lies ahead. For now, they are learning the ropes of living day by day as God’s people. As we read the Bible it appears that the day to day part is minor, just a way to mark time between the big stuff. In reality it’s the opposite. Most sentences used to describe life end with periods. Only a few earn exclamation marks. At this point, Moses’ congregation earns high marks. “They did it all.”
Take Away: The real measure of our Christianity is how we handle the day-to-day, ordinary part of our lives.