Exodus 30:11–16 (ESV) —
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”
NOTE: In my years of bible study, I had never noticed this verse (despite a dozen plus times of reading through the OT), and it confirms the advantage of reading through the whole bible on a regular basis. Why? Because later, there is a story where David numbers the fighting men of Israel. And the Lord judges David for doing it, but I did not realize you could take a census but you had to collect a "half-shekel" for the sanctuary. If you did not, you would face a plague, which David (in a sense) did. David's purpose was not to build up the treasury of the tabernacle but rather it was a sense of pride. The number of fighting men gave David a sense of his military power, what he could and could not do. The preferred approach would have been to trust God that he would protect Israel when needed. David did not need to know the number of his forces to engage the enemy--he only needed God's support.
This reminds me of the story of Job as well (Job had two faults -- thinking he was powerful, and thinking he had all the answers because of all the counsel he gave and people would shut up after he spoke). Job was the richest man in the east and had the financial resources to address anything. But God wanted him to see that he still needed to trust in God and not in his own resources. God addresses both issues of Job in the final few chapters of Job from a whirlwind.
What do we learn from the passage? Well, it is easy to look at your 401K account and think you are prepared or not, but in either case, we need to trust in God and not in our resources. We shouldn't worry and we shouldn't be prideful, God wants our trust. Yes, we may have to live differently because of our choices. But God wants us to trust him in whatever our situation financially.
PONDER:
- Do I trust in my resources to get me through tight spots or do I trust in God?
PRAYER: Father, I think I learn this lesson over and over again, which means I probably didn't learn it the first time or that I need refresher training. I know I need to trust you and not to dwell on situations.
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