{"id":4283,"date":"2022-10-01T00:44:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T05:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4283"},"modified":"2022-10-01T00:44:19","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T05:44:19","slug":"devotional-on-numbers-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-numbers-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-IlWb0SRmed4\/XTtjBzj6LRI\/AAAAAAAA9mg\/wWi3BD948rke8Okgxy6xXM_TAFvlUJUGwCKgBGAs\/s1600\/PHOTO_20140610_100356.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Riding the Anacortes Ferry to Friday Harbor, WA<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nMaking restitution<br \/>\nNumbers 5: Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin.<br \/>\nThe book of Numbers is about naming names.  It also contains considerable practical instruction on how this nation of former slaves is going to function as a People of God.  Reading Numbers is not always the most uplifting devotional reading one might do.  However, that doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s nothing worth reading here.  Instead, we have to do a little prospecting to find the gold.  This statement from Numbers 5 is a good example of that.  Moses explains to the people the true nature of sin; that it is a breaking of trust with God.  It isn\u2019t a mistake and it isn\u2019t human shortcoming.  Rather, it\u2019s behaving in a disloyal way toward God.  Still, there\u2019s hope rather than condemnation here.  In spite of the guilt, there\u2019s the possibility of restoration.  First, the sinner must acknowledge his sin by confessing it.  No excuses are allowed.  The offender must meet the issue head on.  Second, restitution is to be made.  True to the nature of the book, a practical approach is outlined: restore the full amount of the offense plus 20 percent.  The concept is even expanded to include just who is to receive the compensation in extenuating circumstances.  As a person who lives under the New Covenant, I\u2019m not bound by the letter of the Law.  Still, though, the concepts here apply.  To sin is to break trust with God.  The first step to restoration is to acknowledge my failure.  The second is to make things right.  The specific steps to a remedy are different but the concept sounds a whole lot like the Sermon on the Mount.<br \/>\nTake Away: Confession and restitution lead to restoration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making restitution Numbers 5: Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin. The book of Numbers is about naming names. It also contains considerable practical instruction on how this nation of former slaves is going to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1522,7],"tags":[145,206,369,518,919,920],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13938,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4283\/revisions\/13938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}