KEEPING TABS

Numbers 26:1-51; Luke 2:36-52; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 11:15

 “After the plague had ended, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ‘From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their families. List all the men twenty years old or older who are able to go to war.’”

 “His parents didn’t know what to think. ‘Son,’ his mother said to him, ‘why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.’  ‘But why did you need to search?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they didn’t understand what he meant. Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.”

“You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor. You have shaken our land and split it open. Seal the cracks, for the land trembles.”

Last night, I ran into a friend who moved away this Spring.  He was in town on business, and we just happened to see each other at a local restaurant. Although we are good friends, neither of us had made any effort at all to maintain contact after the move.  The Lord used the situation to remind me that friends are irreplaceable treasures I too often take for granted. I need to make friendship a higher priority.

God commanded the Israelites to keep tabs on each other. He wanted them to know their strengths, wanted them to understand they could rely on other warriors in their fight for Yahweh’s cause.  The Lord ordered a specific count because He knew that we, ironically, often lose track of our friends in times of stress or crisis.  Facing vulnerability or weakness, we sometimes back away from the Church, ashamed or afraid of revealing our own insufficiencies. Cutting ourselves off from the very resources Christ would use to heal or protect us is a fool’s reaction. That’s the very time it is most imperative for us to know how many friends we have, and who can be counted on when the chips are down. The parallels are obvious; if it was the right thing for Israel to do, keeping tabs on friends is a great thing for us to do today!

It’s not to be limited to friends, either.  I can’t judge Mary and Joseph for losing touch with Jesus.  My wife and I left our three year old in the middle of Fiesta Texas once – for the longest 360 seconds of our lives! More currently, with one son married and two away in college, it takes intentional effort to keep in touch.  Kids get busy and wander, and we can get out of the habit of communicating (unless they are broke!) if we allow it. But on the other hand, my Dad set a standard I have never matched: once a week for every week of her 97 years of life, he wrote a letter to his mother. Consequently, there was never a day, even in the nursing home, when she felt unloved or ignored.

We need each other; it’s as simple as that. If the Spirit is going to truly “seal the cracks” in our land during our time, He’s going to start with the Body of Christ, His Church. If we want the healing, it makes sense to stick close to the Healer, and also to keep tabs on the saints who are His hands and feet.