Tusite Fepueli 17, 2026

NOMIPA 14-15; ‘AISEA 6:1-7

God is perfectly glorious all the time and in every way, but we need grace to open our often-blind eyes to see the magnitude of his glory.

Ko e ‘Otua, ‘oku haohaoa ma’u pe ‘a hono langilangi ‘i he tapa kotoa pe, ka ‘oku tau fiema’u ‘e kitautolu ha kelesi makehe ke faka’ā hotau mata ‘oku fa’a kui ‘o ‘ikai ke tau mamata ki he lahi faufaua ‘a hono naunau.

A glorious painting was on loan to the museum for a limited period of time, and I just had to see it. However, many other art lovers had the same response. When I arrived at the museum and found the gallery where the painting hung, so many people were already there that I couldn't even get into the room. I craned my neck to get a glimpse from the doorway, but all I could see was a brown corner of this masterpiece. If you had asked me then, with my limited view, to describe this glorious masterwork, I would have given you a description that was anything but glorious. The problem wasn't that the painting lacked artistic glory. No, the problem was mine. I had a vision problem that kept me from seeing, being in awe of, and celebrating the extent of the glory that the painter had laid down on that canvas.

I am convinced that one of the reasons the book of Numbers is in the Bible is to display the extent of the glory of God and, not only that, to demonstrate how God unleashes his glory to provide for his people. The glory of God and the glory of his love for his people shine in Numbers like a galaxy of stars in the night. Here we see the glory of his presence, the glory of his wisdom, the glory of his power, the glory of his patient love, the glory of his guidance, the glory of his forgiving grace, the glory of his discipline, the glory of his protection, the glory of his provision, the glory of the specificity of his care for each of his children, and the glory of his zeal to deliver what he has promised. Yet, when his children look at this portrait of his glory, they don't see glory. It is a sad picture of the tragedy of spiritual blindness. For this, all of humanity needs a Savior who has the power to open blind eyes to the grace and glory that are all around.

Just as God is about to deliver the land that he had promised to his children so long ago, a moment when his glory is about to shine its brightest, his people respond with this:

"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt." (Num. 14:2-4)

Panic in the face of opposition blinds the Israelites from seeing the glory of God's almighty power that would rain down to deliver this promised place into their hands. This narrative asks this question of us: What blinds our eyes from this same God of awesome glory and the grace he daily provides in his Son, the Lord Jesus?

 Monite Fepueli 16, 2026

NOMIPA 11-13; 1 KOLINITO 10:9-10

Complaining is always dangerous because it causes us to be willing to question the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord.

‘Oku fakatu’utamaki ma’u pe ‘a e launga he ‘oku fakatupu ‘iate kitautolu ‘a e loto ke tau fakafehu’i ‘a e lelei mo fai tonunga ‘a e ‘Otua.

Every parent has experienced it. You get up every morning with a commitment to provide what is best for the spiritual, emotional, and physical help of your children. You actively do things every day because you love them, you know what they need, and you do what is necessary to provide it. You are not perfect, but your intentions are good-hearted and loving. But your children don't always appreciate you. They aren't always thankful for your loving attention or hard work. They often complain about what you feed them or schedule for them. They don't always think that your intentions are good, and they often find it easier to complain about you than to be thankful for you. But it's not just children, sadly, who do not praise, because complaining is the default language of fallen humanity.

The story recorded in Numbers 11 is striking, sad, illuminating, and convicting. The children of Israel were on a long journey through wilderness country to the land God had promised them. They were living what was essentially a nomadic life. It was therefore impossible for them to plant seeds, cultivate crops, or harvest food to eat. So God, in one of the most striking miracles of provision in Scripture, caused edible material to appear every morning like dew on the ground. This is both a visible demonstration of God's commitment to unleash his almighty power to provide for his people and a visual prophecy of his ultimate provision from above, Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life, the manna come down from heaven. Manna was nutritious, but here is God's dear children's response to this amazing provision: "Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, 'Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at'" (Num. 11:4-6).

Notice what is happening here. You can't complain about God's provision without questioning his wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and love. If you question his goodness, then you will stop relying on him for help: you don't trust someone you don't think is good. If you don't functionally trust God, you will take your life into your own hands, and, with a heart that's turning away from him, you will be susceptible to look at what is bad and see it as good. God's complaining children looked back at Egypt and didn't remember it as a horrible place of slavery and suffering; it looked more like a great Middle Eastern deli!

Allowing your heart to complain and your mouth to grumble is always spiritually dangerous. The same heart that caused people to reject wilderness manna caused people thousands of years later to reject the ultimate provision of manna, Jesus. May God grace us with always-thankful hearts. 

 Sapate Fepueli 15, 2026

NOMIPA 9-10; TEUTALONOME 30:15-20

The way to live in light of the grace of the constant presence of the Lord is to willingly and joyfully submit to his commands.

Ko e founga ‘o ‘ete mo’ui ‘i he maama ‘o e kelesi ‘o e ‘ete ‘i he lotolotonga ‘o e ‘Otua, ko ‘ete loto fiefia ke te lalo’aoa ki he’ene ngaahi fekau.

"On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle" (Num. 9:15). This was not just another cloud in the sky. This was the most wonderful and important cloud ever. It was the cloud of the presence of God that hovered like a covering over the tabernacle. This cloud was a visible sign that the Lord God Almighty, the Creator and ruler of all that is, had set his love on these people and had chosen to dwell with them. This was so wonderful and amazing, it is hard for us to take it in. God had taken them for his own. He had made covenant promises to them. He had blessed them with his law. He had designed a system of sacrifices so that their sins could be confessed and forgiven and they could be cleansed and restored. And then the Lord of lords demonstrated that he would not be a distant monarch, with little attachment to his people. No, he chose them so he could be with them. The glory of his presence therefore hovered above the tabernacle, a constant reminder of the amazing grace of his presence.

But it is important to recognize that the cloud above the tabernacle was not just a cloud of presence; it was also a cloud of guidance. The God who dwelled with his people was the supreme guide of his people. The cloud of God's presence wasn't stationary. It moved, and, when it moved, the people of God were called to follow and move with it. They had to disassemble the tabernacle and their personal dwelling places, pack up their things, and follow. This cloud of presence and guidance moved not at a regular or predictable pace but according to the will of the Lord. When he decided to move, his people had to willingly move with him. When the cloud remained, they had to stay in that place. The children of Israel were called not only to celebrate the presence of the Lord but also to submit to his guidance: "At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out" (Num. 9:23). The guidance of the cloud wasn't advice. The movement of the cloud represented the command of the Lord. For the children of Israel, the way to recognize and celebrate the Lord's presence was to follow his commands. The cloud represented not only the grace of his presence but also the call to submit to his rule.

So it is with us. The grand mystery of the Christian life is that we celebrate the grace of God's love and presence and accept his claim on our lives and the call to submit at all times and in every way to his commands. So we are thankful for the grace of Jesus, who empowers our resistant hearts to follow him, desiring and doing what he commands.

 Tokonaki Fepueli 14, 2026

NOMIPA 7-8; HEPELU 7:26-27

The need for the Old Testament priests to be repeatedly cleansed should make us thankful for the coming of a priest who needed no cleansing.

Ko e tu’utu’uni ki he kau taula’eiki ‘o e Fuakava Motu’a ke nau toutou fakama’a, ‘oku fakaake ‘iate kitautolu ha fakafeta’i ‘i he hoko mai ha taula’eiki ‘oku ‘ikai toe fiema’u ke fakama’a.

Luella has been known to say, "I can't understand, with just the two of us living here, how things get so dusty." Have you ever noticed that nothing in your life stays clean? Your clothes don't stay clean; your house doesn't stay clean; your car doesn't stay clean; your teeth don't stay clean; your garage doesn't stay clean--the list goes on and on. We spend a large portion of our time working to keep things clean. Even more important to recognize is that your heart doesn't stay clean. Sin causes us to wander away from God's holy standards and expose ourselves to things that are not morally pure. Temptation seduces us into seeing as beautiful the things that God calls ugly. The dirt and dust of a heart not yet free of sin causes all of us to need a constant cleansing stream of God's grace.

So we find this directive in Numbers 8:5-6: "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them." Before the priests could do their holy sacrificial work before God and on behalf of his people, they needed to be cleansed. It is important to understand that the priests did not stand above the need for sacrifices to be made to atone for their sins and to grant them forgiveness and cleansing before God. The priests did not live above a need for God's grace. They were men with sin still living inside of them, which meant they desperately needed for themselves what they had been called to offer to the rest of God's people. No one has ever lived above the need for a sacrifice for one's sin, just as no one has ever lived above the need for God's forgiving and cleansing grace. No one.

I think particularly of the leaders of Christ's church. This portion of God's word has been retained for you as a warning and a calling. There has only ever been one priest who needed no cleansing, the Messiah Jesus. He alone lived without the need for the forgiving and cleansing stream of God's grace. It is vital that you look at the people to whom you have been called to minister and see yourself as another person in need of God's grace. A seminary degree doesn't make you a grace graduate. A ministry calling doesn't make you a grace graduate. Ministry gifts don't make you a grace graduate. Ministry experience and success don't make you a grace graduate. Like the priests of old, it is important to recognize that, this side of eternity, the school of God's grace has no graduates. It is spiritually vital for you to humbly acknowledge that every part of the gospel that you hold before your people, you desperately need yourself. And it is good to remember that no one gives grace better than a person who knows he needs its cleansing stream himself.

 Falaite Fepueli 13, 2026

NOMIPA 5-6; SAAME 32:1-5

If you seek and celebrate God's forgiving grace, then your life will be shaped by humble, heartfelt confession.

Kapau ‘oku ke fekumi mo katoanga’i ‘a e kelesi fakamolemole ‘a e ‘Otua, te ke mo’ui’aki ‘a e fa’a vete ho’o angahala mei he loto mo’oni mo e angavaivai.

Luella and I had just been introduced to a famous pop singer and his wife. They looked so young to us. They knew we had been married for a long time, and they were newlyweds, so their question was predictable: "What would you say is the key to a good, long-term marriage?" People often ask me this question, and I always give the same practical, biblically supported answer: "Confession and forgiveness." This is true not only of marriage, but it is true also of any other relationship you will ever have. You cannot have a relationship of any quality or longevity between one sinner and another sinner in a fallen world without committing to the humble habit of confession.

If this is true of human relationships, how much more is it true of a relationship between a far-less-than-perfect human being and a perfectly holy God? How can you acknowledge God's holiness and your sin and not be committed to confession? How can you meditate on the impossibly high standards of God's law and not be committed to confession? How can you believe in the presence of real evil and a real evil one and not be committed to confession? How can you confess that your life is not your own and that God has taken you for his own possession and not be committed to confession? Personal holiness and humble confession cannot be separated. As long as God calls us to be holy as he is holy, and as long as sin still lives inside of us, confession must be an essential ingredient in the life of every child of God.

Confession is baked into God's law, as we see in Numbers 5-6. The holy God who gave these wise and holy laws is a God of glorious grace. He knows his people, he knows the condition of the world in which they live, he knows the temptations they will face, and he knows that they will fall short of his commands. So he calls them to a humble life of confession. You cannot grieve what you don't you cannot confess what you haven't grieved. So even this command see, and to confess has redeeming grace built into it. If God doesn't grant his children eyes to see their sin for what it is, then they will never confess it as they should.

These chapters are another reminder that the Old Testament system was not all law and no grace. Embedded in God's holy law are offers of his forgiving and restoring grace. Is it any wonder, then, that the biblical story of God and his people would march toward the coming of the ultimate gift and giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ?

 Tu’apulelulu Fepueli 12, 2026

NOMIPA 3-4; LOMA 15:1-7

We should always live in life-shaping awe of the dangerous holiness of God.

‘Oku mahu’inga ke tau mo’ui ofoofo mo e loto ‘apasia ‘i he’etau vakai ki he ma’oni’oni fakalilifu ‘o e ‘Otua.

If you and I were able to stand as we are in the presence of God, not only would we be overwhelmed with his incalculable holiness, but we would be filled with dread and grief at the extent of our unholiness. In fact, it is only in light of the perfectly perfect holiness of God that we can have a sense of the sinfulness of our sin. It is easy to have a casual attitude about things that are deeply offensive to our holy God. It is easy to rise to our own defense when accused of a wrong that, before God, should grieve us. It is easy to minimize the importance of God's holy standards for us in little moments of choice, little moments of behavior, and little moments of talk. God is so holy that he is unapproachably holy.

Hear the sobering warning of these words from Numbers 4:

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die." (Num. 4:17-20)

In the kindness of his mercy, the Lord warned the Kohathites, who were tasked with taking care of the holy things in the tabernacle, that they could not enter the Holy of Holies and look around, or they would die. This was a warning to these tabernacle servants, but it has been retained as a warning for us, too. God's perfectly holy holiness is not something to be messed with. Ignoring the holiness of God and doing what you want to do led to death then, and it does so now.

If God is unapproachably holy (he is), and if he is the Creator and ruler of all that is (he is), and if he is the ultimate moral standard (he is), then everything in life is both moral and serious. There is no area of life where it is okay to take life into your own hands and do what you want to do. There is no room for writing your own rules. There is no time when your passions, pleasures, and desires are more important than God's holy standard. It is dangerous to deny or ignore the holiness of God. God is serious about his holiness, and we should be too. This is why we today - and every day to come - should celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In our most holy moments, all of us would fall miserably short of the glory of God's holy standard. So humanity needs a substitute, one who lives a perfectly holy life in every way on our behalf. Because of Jesus's perfect substitutionary righteousness, we can enter into the presence of God without fear. Sinners in the presence of a holy God - what amazing grace!

 Pulelulu Fepueli 11, 2026

NOMIPA 1-2; 2 TIMOTE 3:16-17

In the beauty of his loving care, God numbers, orders, and prospers his people so that through them all the peoples of earth will be blessed.

‘I he masani ‘o ‘Ene tokanga ‘ofaa, ‘oku lau, tu’utu’uni mo fakatu’umalie ‘e he ‘Otua ‘a hono kakai ke fou ‘iate kinautolu ‘a e monu’ia ‘a e kakai ‘o mamani.

Hear what Paul says to Timothy about the gift of the word of God: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). This means that every single thing recorded for us in God's word is there for a reason. There are no superfluous, throwaway, or needless passages in your Bible. God recorded and preserved every passage in his word for our spiritual benefit. He retained every passage so that you and I would be spiritually complete and equipped to do what is good in God's sight, wherever we live. You will never encounter a passage, whether historical, didactic, poetic, or prophetic, that has nothing to do with you or your life and is therefore a waste of your time.

But your daily Bible reading plan brings you to the first few chapters of Numbers, where the children of Israel are being listed, numbered, designated, and ordered by tribes. You think, "What does this have to do with anything I'm facing or need in my life?" On the surface these accounts seem like unneeded historical detail, not very interesting, and easily forgotten. But the apostle Paul says that they are in your Bible for your spiritual maturation and readiness. So before you conclude that these particular chapters are unhelpful, ask yourself how your loving heavenly Father, who loves you with an everlasting love, wants you to be helped by what seems so distant and unhelpful.

Consider Numbers 2:32: "These are the people of Israel as listed by their fathers' houses. All those listed in the camps by their companies were 603,550." What do we need to hear from this passage? First, it reminds us of the intimate and specific care God has for his people. He numbers each one of them. God's care is so active and complete that he constantly knows the exact number of those he has taken as his own possession. God loves us so much that he never quits counting us, and he never loses track of one of his children. If a loving father counts his children as they get in the car after a day at the amusement park, how much more does our perfect heavenly Father number each and every one of his own? God's divine attention is constantly on his children.

Second, we learn from this verse that God is not only numbering and ordering his children, but is prospering them as well. This group of former slaves is now a growing nation. Why is this important to you and me? Because the hope of the universe is in the prospering of the children of Israel. Out of them will come the Savior, Jesus, who will provide forgiveness, reconciliation to God, and final renewal of all that sin has broken. It is good for us to know that God's children are always in good hands.