SEAN - From the new census, to property laws, even to new leaders, Israel became prepared for a new life in the Promised Land. This post is about preparation. At this point everything was a generation removed from the Exodus: Moses and Aaron gave way to Joshua and Eleazar, the census revealed a brand new army of soldiers, and children were claiming their fathers' land. This was Israel getting ready to storm Canaan.
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Based on ESV.com's Chronological Bible In a Year schedule. If anyone would like to join in, this blog's comments sections would be a good forum in which to share insights from the text.
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What Comes After Your Goals?
So you know where you want to live, what you want to do for work, and you've got a decent Five Year Plan outlining how to get there. Awesome. What comes after that? You see, when Israel was about to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 27.12), they had to think further ahead than just 'win the Battle of Jericho.' Israel had to figure out how many people they had to work with (Numbers 26), who was going to be their leader (Numbers 27.18-21) and who would be able to own property (Numbers 27.7-11). You know what, maybe you're not even in the five year planning stage; that's okay, just as long as you work on getting a five year plan. When you do get one, take some time to figure out what you'll do with all of your accomplished goals.
Some Good Things to Plan For:
Leadership - who are you going to be accountable to? Ancient Israel had civil leaders (Joshua) and spiritual leaders (Eleazar), and so do we. Civil Government: Do you want to submit to the leadership of your town, province, or country? Can't do it? Go somewhere else. Spiritual Authority: What church are you going to attend? Running your own? Who is your coach going to be? This was the concern of Numbers 27.18-21.
Property - Are you going to rent or purchase a home? When you pass away, who is going to get your house? You've got the options of handing it off to one of your kids, getting tenants and doing a sort of rent-to-own deal, just a lot of different options like that. This was the concern of Numbers 27.7-11.
People - From reading the census, this came out as a major concern: what about the people factor? For us, this could be everything from figuring out how many friendships you can manage while doing all your other responsibilities, to whether you want to live in a big city (lots of people) or a little city (not as many people), to how many children you are planning on. The concerns of Ancient Israel were a little bit different, but the People Factor was still a concern in Numbers 26.
I think that, as I'm just about to get married, these are the types of things that I'm starting to think about. I'll be honest here: I have just barely gotten working on some of these things. I'm learning more than anyone else just by writing this (I literally backed up after I wrote 'figure out what to do after you've accomplished your goals,' I thought yeah Sean, you should do that). Anyhow, feedback is always welcome.
So you know where you want to live, what you want to do for work, and you've got a decent Five Year Plan outlining how to get there. Awesome. What comes after that? You see, when Israel was about to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 27.12), they had to think further ahead than just 'win the Battle of Jericho.' Israel had to figure out how many people they had to work with (Numbers 26), who was going to be their leader (Numbers 27.18-21) and who would be able to own property (Numbers 27.7-11). You know what, maybe you're not even in the five year planning stage; that's okay, just as long as you work on getting a five year plan. When you do get one, take some time to figure out what you'll do with all of your accomplished goals.
Some Good Things to Plan For:
Leadership - who are you going to be accountable to? Ancient Israel had civil leaders (Joshua) and spiritual leaders (Eleazar), and so do we. Civil Government: Do you want to submit to the leadership of your town, province, or country? Can't do it? Go somewhere else. Spiritual Authority: What church are you going to attend? Running your own? Who is your coach going to be? This was the concern of Numbers 27.18-21.
Property - Are you going to rent or purchase a home? When you pass away, who is going to get your house? You've got the options of handing it off to one of your kids, getting tenants and doing a sort of rent-to-own deal, just a lot of different options like that. This was the concern of Numbers 27.7-11.
People - From reading the census, this came out as a major concern: what about the people factor? For us, this could be everything from figuring out how many friendships you can manage while doing all your other responsibilities, to whether you want to live in a big city (lots of people) or a little city (not as many people), to how many children you are planning on. The concerns of Ancient Israel were a little bit different, but the People Factor was still a concern in Numbers 26.
I think that, as I'm just about to get married, these are the types of things that I'm starting to think about. I'll be honest here: I have just barely gotten working on some of these things. I'm learning more than anyone else just by writing this (I literally backed up after I wrote 'figure out what to do after you've accomplished your goals,' I thought yeah Sean, you should do that). Anyhow, feedback is always welcome.
Other comments and observations can be found in the comments section! Join in!
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