Don’t Discount the Numbers
“5 Now there was a wall surrounding the outside of the temple. The measuring rod in the man’s hand was six units of twenty-one inches; each unit was the standard length plus three inches. He measured the thickness of the wall structure; it was 10½ feet, and its height was the same. 6 Then he came to the gate that faced east and climbed its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate; it was 10½ feet deep—one threshold was 10½ feet deep. 7 Each recess was 10½ feet long and 10½ feet deep, and there was a space of 8¾ feet between the recesses. The inner threshold of the gate on the temple side next to the gate’s portico was 10½ feet. 8 Next he measured the gate’s portico; 9 it was 14 feet, and its jambs were 3½ feet. The gate’s portico was on the temple side.”
Ok, be honest with me. Did you actually read that passage, or just skim over it? Usually, I am squarely in the skimming camp for passages like this, especially because I HATE math and there are way too many numbers in this passage. But the other day, God used this passage to show me just how amazing his Word, and ultimately his love, really is.
I will put all my cards on the table and say I am a word nerd (hence the hatred of math, although they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive) and I’ve long held the belief that reading the same book at different times in your life is a spectacular practice in continued learning. As a strange course of my studies, I ended up reading Pride and Prejudice every four years three times in a row (yeah, that’s 12 years! I guess I CAN do math…), and each time I was struck by different themes or ideas as I matured and brought new eyes to the book.
With the living, breathing, word of God, why wouldn’t it be the same? Due to my aforementioned hatred of math, I typically skip over these types of “number passages” in the Bible. But God used this very strange, very specific passage the other day to show me how great his love is for me.
You see, as I’m writing this, I’m seven months pregnant, expecting my first child and the nesting impulse is in full swing. I’ve been researching and making lists, cleaning and rearranging, and measuring EVERYTHING in our flat to make sure that all of the baby things will have a place. I have a note in my phone with a list of random measurements that looks eerily similar to this passage. And of course, it popped into my head while reading this.
But the thing is, my measurements are for my child. The biblical measurements are for the Holy of Holy’s.
I am taking this much care to prepare and care for my baby, and my attention to these little details is just a small echo of the care God took in preparing a place for his Spirit to dwell among his people. That’s amazing. And now that Spirit dwells in all believers. WE are the new temple, and again the care with which he had this temple built is the same care with which he knit us all together in our mothers’ wombs (including this little one, currently kicking me in the ribs).
God cares about these tiny details, even more than me. And that’s amazing. I needed this reminder, that God sees and cares about even the smallest and seemingly silliest of things.
But I think even more than that, I needed to be reminded that His word IS amazing and it’s worth it to take my time in it every day, even if it seems “boring”. He can meet us in the strangest of life phases and places, like our measurements and “to-do” lists.
