[Steve Myers] I was reading a survey the other
day that kind of struck me. It was questioning people about their view
of God. If they believed in the Supreme Being, what
did they imagine Him to be like? What was His character? What was His attitude toward them? And boy, it was amazing the range of responses
to that question. Many talked about God being “an angry God,”
or that God of the Old Testament was “mean and overbearing.” But then there was this “God of love,”
you know, that suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the New Testament. And that range of people's perspectives on
God and their approach to what they imagined Him to be like was really amazing, to see
all the contrast in the way that people thought about God and His perspective. So, I thought for a moment, well, what is
our perspective on God? What do you think about God's perspective
on you? What does God think of me? What does God think of you? What comes to His mind? You know, if you say someone's name, maybe
an image comes to mind, maybe a thought, maybe an experience you had with them, maybe their
character comes to mind. What does God think about me? What does God think about you? I thought today would be a beautiful opportunity
to think about God's perspective and look to what Scripture says about God's thoughts. In fact, one of the passages in the Bible
that may be the oldest preserved text, tells us a lot about God's thinking towards us. You know what passage that is that archaeologists
feel is probably the oldest example of surviving texts that we can know of? Well, we read it already. It’s what we read already. It's Numbers 6. Numbers 6, we read that passage down in verse
23, in Numbers 6:23. Of course, it's in the book of Numbers, which
tells us a lot, to begin with. Numbers focuses on a time of wandering. God's people have left Egypt, and there are
trials, and there are difficulties. And in a way they're stuck between two worlds,
stuck between this old world of Pharaoh, and Egypt, and sin, and looking forward to the
Promised Land and God's way of life, God's protection, being God's people. And in a sense, there they are, right between
these two worlds. Not too different from where we're at today. When you think about it, we are physical beings
in this physical world looking forward to the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God. And in that situation, God told His people,
Israel, "I want you to know how I feel about you. I want you to know My thinking towards you
because it can change everything." And so, we have Numbers 6:23, that was given
to them to ingrain it in their thinking, you know, in a sense, make their understanding
be absolutely secure that they would realize how God looks at them, how He thinks about
them. Notice Number 6:23 once again. We'll read through this. It says, "Speak to Aaron and his sons saying,
‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:” “Here's My thinking. This is what I think. This is My thoughts towards you," God says. “‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the
Lord make His face shine upon you, be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon
you, give you peace.’ So they shall put My name on the children
of Israel, and I will bless them." And as we look at this section, we see there's
really three parts. Maybe we can identify this as individual thoughts
that God gives to us to help us to recognize His way of thinking. And each of these sections begins with a focus
on our Creator. And then it moves to us. So when we recognize what it says notice God's
first thought. If we can be as bold to say, here's God revealing
His thinking, God's first thought. What is it? “The Lord bless you.” The Lord bless you. The fact is, God doesn't want to curse us. God doesn't want to throw a lightning bolt
to wipe us out. God doesn't want us to fail. God wants to bless us even more than we understand
how much He really loves us. He wants the best for us. I mean, have we ever thought? Here we are. We're toward the beginning of the Bible, and
right up front, God says He wants blessings to be upon us. Why? Because that's who He is. That's who God is. We had that example of God in the flesh blessing
these little children. We follow that example. How many times in the Bible do we find examples
of God blessing His people? Well, we can go back to Adam. Did God bless Adam? Yes, He gave him the opportunity to choose
life, gave Eve that same opportunity. God wanted the best for them. In fact, all along the way, God even says,
"Here's the best choice. If you would like to be blessed, which is
what I want for you, choose this way, this is what you need to do, and I will pour those
blessings upon you." And so, as we walk in faith as Israel walked
in faith, blessings were poured out from God. And this concept appears over and over and
over again. Beginning of Scripture, there it is right
at the start. We go to the beginning of the New Testament. What do we find there? Christ uttered many blessings. Matthew 5, I'm not going to turn there. Matthew 5, Christ Himself said, “Blessed
are the poor in spirit,” that sermon sometimes is known as the Sermon on the Mount, focuses
on blessings. It's like in Numbers 6 and Matthew 5. "Blessed are those who mourn… Blessed are the meek… Blessed are the weak… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness… Blessed are the merciful… the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers… and those who
are persecuted. When they walk in My way, they will be blessed." And so, this concept of a God who loves us,
and wants the best for us, and thinks He wants to encourage us with His very blessings, is
a constant theme throughout Scripture. You'll never guess what's in Revelation. Okay, you did guess it. Blessings. There are seven distinct blessings that are
mentioned all the way in that very last book of the Bible. Seven blessings in Revelation. And one of them you're probably very familiar
with, or maybe I will turn to that first one, and you can take the time later to look up
the other six. But Revelation 1:3 is that first of seven
blessings that are mentioned in the book of Revelation. Revelation 1:3, right off the bat, as God
reveals not only what's going to happen in the future, not only the great tribulation
and all the problems that this world has brought itself to, but He starts with revealing His
thinking towards us. What does God think of me? This is what He wants for us. Revelation 1:3, "Blessed is he who reads and
those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in
it; for the time is near." What does God want for us in this world of
tribulation and trouble and difficulties? He doesn't want us to have to go through tribulation,
trouble, and difficult. He wants the best for us. And what we find is this constant theme, or
maybe we could say the constant rhythm of the Bible is blessings, God's perspective. His thinking is to bless us. And literally, if we were to look up this
word in the Greek, to be blessed, like in Matthew 5 has the Greek word makarios, and
it means a sense of happiness. That absolutely happy, or how wonderfully
happy are those who have the right approach, who have a meek spirit. Those who mourn will God absolutely bless. And God says, there's no doubt about it. In fact, that Greek word is an interesting
one because it has a connection to the Isle of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Now what in the world would being blessed
have to do with an island in the Mediterranean? Well, Cyprus was basically self-sufficient. If you lived on the Isle of Cyprus, it was
like, well, what we might imagine if you lived in Hawaii, right? If you lived in Hawaii, it would be paradise,
right? It would be beautiful. It would be wonderful. Can't imagine how wonderful it would be because
everything you need, it's a beautiful place. It's exquisite, and that's what they thought
of this Isle of Cyprus. They had everything they could need, all the
provisions, the food. There was lacking nothing if you lived on
Cyprus. So, the Greeks believed anyone who lived there
had it made, they had it made. You would never have to leave because it was
such a beautiful place. That's where this concept of blessing comes. That's what God wants us. God wants us all, spiritually speaking, to
live on the Isle of Cyprus. He wants us to have it all. Have it all, not necessarily physically speaking,
but all of the wonderful spiritual blessings that He could possibly pour out on us. That's what God wants. He sees us as those who have an opportunity
to have it all. I mean, think about that. Is there any reason to go outside the bounds
of God's way out there in the world? Any reason to go out there? I mean, we're on spiritual Cyprus. We've got it all. That's what God sees for us. There's no reason to invite the outside world
in. I mean, even though, yeah, there's the pressures,
the world's knocking on our doorstep all the time, and sin, all the troubles are out. But God doesn't want that for us. He doesn't want that for us at all. And so, when we recognize God's perspective,
well, kind of like reminded me of Psalm 23, you know, "The Lord is my shepherd." And what does it say next? "I won't lack anything. I shall not want." There's nothing else out there. We're on Cyprus, spiritually speaking. I don't need anything else. God can provide everything. In fact, promises to provide everything I
need. Everything I need. God will not let me lack anything. I'll never be in need if I stay close to God. And when you think of His perspective, His
first line of thought, God wants to truly bless us. And that's not just an overall blessing for
His Church. Yeah, we sometimes think of that passage in
Luke, you know, "Fear not little flock, for it's your Father's good pleasure to give you
the Kingdom." Yeah, that's a personal blessing. He wants to give us the Kingdom. And so, His first line of thinking is to do
just that. To completely and totally bless us. Now, of course, there's a second part to that
initial thought. Maybe we could say it's a second thought. What's God's second thought as He thinks of
you? What does God think towards me? Well, if you could look back at Numbers chapter… I should've told you to hold your place there. Numbers 6:24, “The Lord bless you” and
what comes next? “The Lord keep you.” God's next line of thought. His second thought is, He wants to keep us. Well, He wants these blessings to reassure
us. He's watching over us. He's watching over us as we asked Him to have
a special eye on these little one's today, to keep them physically. But even more importantly, to keep them spiritually. That God's intention for us is good. He wants to preserve us, and protect us, and
guide us, and He doesn't want us to forget these wonderful benefits. So, what kind of God do we have? Is He that far off God that some in that survey
thought about that, "Well, maybe I believe in God, but He's never really very close,"
Right? "He's off somewhere in the universe, not really
paying much attention to us." But that is not God's thinking. God is close to us. God, in this sense, says He wants to keep
us. This is the Hebrew word shawmar, S-H-A-W-M-A-R
is the transliteration, shawmar, and it means “to watch over us,” which also carries
a connotation to protect us, to preserve us. So, not just to watch and see what happens,
but with an intent. What's God's intent? That we go off and we stumble, and we get
into trouble, into problems? No, He wants to keep us close. He wants to protect us. He wants to preserve us. He wants to save us. He wants to save us. And when we think of the source, we know that's
God's perspective. That's His thinking when it comes to us. There's a beautiful Psalm that maybe you read
at the Feast. Psalm 121 is sometimes thought of as a Feast
Psalm. Psalm 121 is one of the songs of ascents. One of the songs that they would have sung
as they went up to Jerusalem, probably sung at the Feast in ancient times as well. Psalm 121, notice what Psalm 121 says as it
connects to God's line of thinking. What He thinks toward me. Psalm 121, it says “A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills— where
does my help come from?" Well, this is what our thinking better be. "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of
heaven and earth." When we put our priority, God first, can God
help but bless us? No, we're not talking necessarily about health
and wealth and all that sort of thing. Those are physical things. Is God going to watch over us spiritually? Is God going to care for us and help us, so
that ultimately we can be in His family, in His Kingdom? And the answer is, absolutely. When I look to God, and I have that focus,
and I remember the source, put Him first in my life. Look at verse 3, “He will not let your foot
slip. He who watches over you will not slumber.” He's not somewhere off in the universe, not
paying attention to us. He is keeping us. He wants to keep us, indeed. Verse 4, "He who watches over Israel will
neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you; the Lord is your
shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the
moon by night.” None of those things. And, of course, for a shepherd burning hot
sun could wipe you out. The moon could light up your flock where a
wolf could come in and steal one of those little sheep. But God is not going to let that happen when
we stay close to Him. Verse 7, "The Lord will keep you from all
harm; He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and your
going both now and forever." That's God's thinking. That's God's intent. He wants to keep us. He doesn't wish evil upon us. In fact, if you… Remember the story of Job? Satan went before God and said, "Yeah, God,
you're giving Job a little too much help. I can't quite get at Him." And Satan says to God that God had put a hedge
around Job. And that idea is exactly the thought we find
here in Numbers 6, that God is keeping us. He has put a hedge around us, and when we
stay within that hedge, or within that spiritual Island of Cyprus, Satan can't get to us. Can't get to us, and God's going to be watching
over us, and He's going to be helping us. He's going to be guiding us. And section and passage after passage of Scripture
tells us this, to reassure us over and over and over again. Peter said, "We're kept by the power of God
through faith” 1 Peter 1:5, you just write that one down. Write down 2 Thessalonians 3:3. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, "God establishes us and
guards us from the evil one." So, we're kept by His power. We are established and guarded by… that
is the intent of God. Not only blessing us but keeping us as well. One passage I will turn to is over the book
of Jude. Little tiny little book. If you look it up on your computer, it doesn't
even have a chapter, or maybe it'll say chapter 1 of Jude, but there is only one chapter. So, if we look at Jude 20, Jude 20, let's
notice something interesting here that connects with this keeping that God does. Jude 20, notice what it says. It sounds funny to say this, sounds like chapter
20, no, it's verse 20. Okay, Jude 20, it says, "But you, beloved,
building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Of course, when we read that, for a moment
I have to step back and say, "Wait a second, didn't God just say that He was going to bless
us and keep us?" And then what does Jude say here? “Keep yourselves” well, is that a contradiction
between God keeping and now what Jude says here, build yourselves up. Keep yourselves. I thought that God did the keeping it, doesn't
He? Well, what this is is, it's a single coin,
but there's two sides to this coin, isn't there? That when God… He'll promise to do His part. He will undoubtedly do His part, but we do
have a responsibility, don't we? We have a responsibility as well. God has given us the opportunity to choose,
and so we can choose to stay close to God. We can choose to follow His way. We can choose to keep ourselves in the love
of God. And when we do, God will undoubtedly keep
us. But certainly, our choices bring consequences. And so, we have many examples of that in the
Bible, don't we? So many examples. You know, when we look through that, we see
those things that even as Christians, we can expect there to be challenges in this life. We can expect there to be difficulties. Does that mean God is not keeping us? I don't think so. Tell that to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were kept by the power of God. You know, tell that to Daniel in the lion's
den. Yeah, God didn't keep him from getting thrown
in the lion's den, but Daniel kept faith, stayed close to God. God protected him and kept him as well. And whether you talk about Paul and his multiple
shipwrecks, or Peter in prison, it's the same concept, that when we stay close to God, God
will keep us because we certainly can't find anywhere in the Bible where God promises us
no problems, no difficulties, no challenges, all long life perfect health, and everything
will go our way. He doesn't say that. There was no place where… but God does promise
to keep us, to watch over us, to provide us the strength and the encouragement and the
comfort that we need. That's a promise from God, and God knows best. God knows best. He does promise to keep us. That's the way that He thinks. All right. If you go back to Numbers 6, notice the third
line of thinking that God has toward us. Notice God's thinking toward us. God's third thought. What is this third thought? Well, it's in verse 25, moving into the second
section of His thinking. His third thought is, "I'm here. Here I am.” He says, "The Lord make His face to shine
upon you… The Lord make His face to shine upon you.” Well, what is that talking about? The Lord make His face shine upon you? There's been some interesting studies that
have been done. They call them universality studies. I think I'm saying that right. Universality, that's it. Universality studies, that's it. Universality studies. And what these studies are, there's been,
you know, all kinds of them that have been done since the early '60s, and you know what
those study are about? Facial expressions, facial expressions. That there is a universal understanding of
human expressions, and it doesn't matter what culture you grew up in, that facial expressions
have meaning. They express emotions. They express certain feelings and thoughts
in your face, in your face. And these studies have bore that out. So, consider that in God's thinking, and His
face shining upon you. A shining face, especially when you consider
what that means in Old Testament times, it would mean a pleasurable face, a smiling face,
a face that's not turned away, but a face that's directed towards you. An encouraging emotion that is expressed on
this particular face of God. And so, imagine this, you haven't seen a loved
one for weeks, and they unexpectedly walk through the door. No, they're not going to have that expression,
are they? No, it's going to be, "Whoa, here they are. This is great." And it's going to show on your face. You're not going to turn away from them. You're going to treat them. That's God's expression here. It's when, you know, our children accomplish
things, and it makes us as parents so very proud. That's the kind of expression that we have. If you were to have grandchildren and watch
them begin to take those first steps, "Wow, this is amazing." The love and the affection that's shown on
your expression, almost like Moses coming down from the mountain, and his face just
shone because he was in the presence of God. You see, it points to the fact that we don't
worship an angry God. We don't worship a God who has it in for us. We have a God who faces us, who loves us and
has this inviting expression on His face. That's what this is telling us. God doesn't want us… well, even when I'm
like this. This angry countenance and so many put upon
God, no, that's not Him at all. You think about this expression of God, what
would that look like if you put it on an emoji? I mean that's what we're talking about here. This is God's emoji, I suppose you could say. And what are those cool things about emojis
now? Have you seen these different apps for emojis? They're pretty cool. They will take these animated creatures, or
whatever they might be, and you can actually animate them with your expressions. Have you seen those things? They're pretty cool. It's pretty amazing. And so, you know, you could be a little duck
with emotions, and you put its expressions on, and all these crazy little things, animated
emojis that are expressing feelings. Well, God expresses His thinking to us in
this very passage. The Lord is making His face shine upon us
to experience His love, to experience His joy, to experience His willingness, to be
there to comfort and care with us over any circumstance of every situation. In fact, there's a beautiful passage in the
Psalms. Hold your place here in your Numbers. Turn over to Psalm 86. Psalm 86:5, here's God's emoji expressed a
little bit more thoroughly. Notice this. This is the kind of face that God is shining
upon us. Psalm 86:5, 86 verse 5 in the Psalms, we have
a little bit further explanation of God's thought that I am here, I am facing you, and
I want the best for you. Verse 5, Psalm 86, "For you, Lord, are good
and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and attend
to the voice of my supplications." God is there, ready always to listen, to be
there. "In the day of my trouble, I'll call upon
You,” what's God's direction? "You will answer me. Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord." Why? His face shines, His face shines. "Nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made, shall come
and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. You're great, and do wondrous things; You
alone are God." And you know this whole concept is so different. Psalms definitely tells us this. You are totally different than all those phony
pagan made up gods. Have you ever thought about that? What were those pagan gods like that they
worshiped? Are they like our God? When you think about the gods of the day,
during the first century, you think about those Roman gods that really came from the
Greeks. Well, what were those Greek and Roman gods
like? Yeah, unfortunately, they're like us. They were like human beings. They were flawed. And the Greeks and the Romans, they worshiped
gods that had the same vices, the same sins, the same fatal flaws that mortal human beings
have. I mean, they imagined the gods arguing with
each other. "Oh wow, that supreme being is wonderful,"
Things like that. Stories written about the Greek gods in the
Odyssey, Zeus and Poseidon are arguing over Odysseus's fate. They want to… one wants him dead. Oh, gods wanting other gods dead, isn't that
wonderful? Just wonderful. You see, those Greek gods, those Roman gods,
they were sinful. What was their perspective on human beings? You see, the Romans were saying, "Oh, we better
watch out for these gods because they don't necessarily like us. They might have it in for us. They might even try to trip us up. They might try to give us a lightning bolt,
or a curse, or whatever it might be, and they actually enjoy giving us trials and problems." That's their perspective. And so you can read Greek stories, Roman stories,
one after another, after another, how they mistreat human beings because that's the kind
of god they worshiped. But us, what does our… excuse me. What is our God like? I'm about to sneeze. I'm trying to hold back a sneeze here. What does God say about His face? His emotion? You see, His will is the best for us. There is no conflict between God the Father,
and Jesus Christ. They're always unified. They're always together. They are of one mind, one purpose. We have a just God, a loving God, and His
will is not to try to trip us up, but to encourage us and urge us on. Ready to do wonderful things, and pour blessings
out upon us, to call us into a relationship with Him. That's what Numbers 6 is all about. It's about that very thing. And, in fact, think of it this way. Go back to Numbers 6 again. Look at His thinking expounded just a little
bit more. He's making His face shine upon us. You could say the ultimate spiritual emoji
shining on us. And then He says, "You're My favorite… You're My favorite.” Not in the sense that I'm the only one. God doesn't play favorites in that way. That's why we can all say, "I'm God's favorite,"
because He's not a respecter of persons. He loves us all like we're supposed to love
our children. We love them all the same. We love them, we care for them, and His forethought
here is, He favors you. “The Lord make His face shine upon you,
and be gracious unto you.” God is gracious to us. He pours out His mercy, His love, and His
grace upon us. That's in a totally different perspective
than this ungracious eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth kind of world where we live in
where we're only as good as the last accomplishment we had in this world. I mean, here we see God is showing His wonderful
favor. So we're favored by our Creator God, and He
is a just God. He's a merciful God. He doesn't give us what we deserve. But when we're repentant, He forgives us. He's merciful to us. Grace is getting what we don't deserve in
one way, and He has grace upon us, and He forgives us and loves us. And over and over and over again through Scripture,
we're shown that very thing. I love the one example that probably typifies
this thinking that God has us, with an example that happened between Jesus Christ and Peter. If you hold your place here at Numbers. Turn over to Luke 22:31. I think in one way this kind of epitomizes
God's perspective and His thinking toward all of us. And in that sense, Peter's representing all
of us here. Luke 22:31, kind of jumping into the middle
of a scenario here, but this is the gist of it. As Jesus Christ is talking to Peter, and notice
what He says to Peter. “The Lord said,” verse 31 Luke 22, "Simon,
Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may
sift you as wheat." Yeah, that's the world. That's this demonic world that we face. We are fighting spiritual wickedness in high
places. And what does God say? “Good luck.” I mean, He doesn't say that, does He? That's Satan's desire, to have us. But notice God's perspective. Notice what God thinks about us. Verse 32, Christ says to Peter, "But I have
prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen
your brother, the brethren." So what we begin to see is God wants the best,
even though there are the worst intentions lined up against us, wanting us to fail. That's not God's intention. That's not His thinking. He favors us. He has grace unto us. He is gracious, and He does favor us. And so, we, like Peter, should make that effort
to live every day, day in, day out, appreciating the grace, the kindness, the compassion, the
gentleness that God gives us and nurtures us and leads us and builds us up so that can
be spiritual creations. We can be like Him because this is a God we
can trust. This God is on our side. This God doesn't have it in for us. Our God thinks the best of us, and is encouraging
us, and loves us, and is gracious to us. In fact, His thinking goes on. Back to Numbers 6 once again. Verse 26, look at God's fifth thought. What does God think towards you? “I'm paying attention to you. I'm noticing, I'm attentive to you. I know your needs. I know your situation. I understand. More than just recognizing it, I understand
you, even more than you understand yourself. I understand.” "The Lord lift His countenance upon you" I
mean, we've all been there before, haven't we? We've been maybe in a conversation, and the
person we're talking to is off in a whole another world. You ever tried to talk to someone while they've
got their phone in their hand? Tried to talk to someone while the television
is on, and I was like, "Hey, I'm talking to you." Yeah, we know what it's like to tune somebody
out. You're pouring out your heart to someone,
telling them your life story. Their cell phone rings, and you go, "Hang
on just a minute. Hello. Oh, it's, you know, sales call." God's not like that. What this is telling us, reminding us, God's
looking, He's noticing, and He wants the best. He's showing interest, full attentiveness
to our life. We have God's full attention. That's what He's saying here, lifting up His
countenance, paying complete attention, wanting the best for us, watching over you, showing
His favor. All of those things show us that He is there. I'm paying attention and noticing everything. He's forever attentive in our situations. And so, what we consider this very fact, we
recognize this. And I love the way that it's worded in the
book of Daniel. I think Daniel is a wonderful example of that. Daniel 9, notice verse 20. Daniel 9:20 I think shows God's thinking when
He lifts His countenance upon us. Let's notice the situation in Daniel. Now, remember, Daniel's a captive. He's been taken to Babylon, and that would
be a place where God would probably never recognize where you're at. God wouldn't even, well, no, that wasn't the
way it was at all. Daniel knew God was with him, and in chapter
9, notice Daniel's situation here. In Daniel 9, now we have the Persian Empire
taking over, Daniel is still in captivity, and is God going to pay attention? Will God lift His countenance upon Daniel? Well, Daniel 9:20, He records for us here. It says, "Now while I was speaking, praying,
and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, presenting my supplication before
the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer,
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly,
reached me about the time of the evening offering. He informed me, and talk to me, and said,
"O Daniel, I've now come forth to give you skill to understand.’" He says, "At the beginning of your supplications
the command went out, I've come to tell you, for your greatly beloved; therefore consider
the matter, and understand the vision." The we get into this 70 weeks prophecy. All of that is kind of a side point to the
connection to Numbers. When we read, God wants to bless us. That God that wants to make His face shine
upon us. When we recognize that, lifting His countenance
upon us, that's exactly what's happening here at Daniel's prayer. Notice what He says. What happened when Daniel prayed about the
situation? Did God say, "Excuse Me? What did you say? Wait for the commercial. Let me get back to you." He didn't say that. "Let me take this call first." What happens? Middle verse 21 it says, Gabriel “swiftly
flew.” Not hanging back, not waiting, not, "Well,
I'll get to it later." We find instantaneously this happens. Verse 23, "At the beginning of your supplications,"
not later on, not sometime. The N.I.V. says, "As soon as you began to
pray, an answer went out." You could read this in N.I.V., New Living,
various translations get to the heart of it. What's God's perspective about His countenance
being upon us? When you first started praying, some translations
say. Others say, "The moment you began to pray,
an answer was given." It wasn’t, “Well, hang on, let me think
about getting to it.” He says, "No, God was watching. God was listening. God was responding to Daniel's prayer." Now, sometimes the answer might be, "You're
going to have to wait." That might be the answer, but we see God was
there, paying attention. At the beginning, verse 23 says, the command
went out immediately, and we see a little bit of God's perspective toward us, toward
Daniel. You are greatly loved, greatly beloved, and
so God's thought, His countenance, His perspective is always there. He's not off somewhere not paying attention. God, in our life, is like Daniel's life. He's always watching. He's always listening. He's always responding. He's always looking out for us. And that brings us then to the sixth thought. Go back to Numbers 6. You still have your finger there in Numbers
6. "Not only will He lift His countenance upon
you," verse 26, but He says, "I'm giving you peace… I'm giving you peace.” Amplified Version says, "I'm giving you tranquility
of heart and life." Tranquility of heart and life, well-being,
wholeness, completeness. In fact, the Amplified Version says “continually,”
not just once in a while, not just every so often, but God says, “I want to give you
peace continually, continually.” In fact, if you read this in a literal translation,
a literal concordance or Young's Analytical Concordance, it says that God’s “appointed
us His peace.” He's appointed us His peace. And, of course, that's not the peace of this
world, but God's peace. And that means it's a type of an assurance
that God's there. Philippians 4:4 describes this way of peace
that God gives to us. Philippians 4:4. Here's God's thinking. Philippians 4:4. Notice this appointment for peace, that's
interesting. This Greek word for peace can be a medical
term. They use it as a medical term. When someone broke a bone, they would give
them peace. In other words, they would bring that bone
back together so that it could heal properly, and you could have strength back again. That kind of peace, that kind of tranquility
knowing this will be healed. Philippians 4:4 speaks of that. "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God;” that
sounds like a Daniel. Be a Daniel, and will you receive an immediate
answer? I think we can expect an answer. Maybe the answer is, "Wait" at times, but
God knows, God understands. And it says here in verse 7, "the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus." That even in the most difficult of life circumstances,
we can have peace. The world can understand it. They don't realize it. They don't recognize it. They don't understand it, but it can change
everything in our outlook, and so, we can have God's perspective. God's perspective of what verse eight talks
about. It changes our thinking. It changes our thinking, and so God wants
us to think like He thinks. He wants us to have His peace, that no matter
what is happening in this physical life, ultimately God wants us to have peace. And, of course, that brings us to number seven. God's seventh thought all the way back in
Numbers 6. What does it say? Verse 27. I'm trying to get to another verse. Number seven gives us the seventh thought
of God. "They shall put my name on the children of
Israel, and I will bless them." In fact, we have an emphatic declaration that's
given. “This is what I will do.” God's way of thinking, “You're Mine. You're Mine, you're a part of Me. You're a part of My family, My family name. My name will be upon you,” and He says,
"I'm going to do this. This is what I will do. I will bless them. My name," And, of course, to the Hebrews,
that meant everything. God's name, we're talking about all-encompassing. It's who we are. It's our identity. We are God's. It's about God's reputation. It's about His character. It's about His entire being. He wants to put His name upon us, and it reflects
what our future is, doesn't it? What's our ultimate future? To be full-fledged divine family members in
His Kingdom. He sees that now. And so, in His name, putting His name upon
us puts us in God's hands. And it points to all God is, what He has done,
His power, His authority, all that He's done, all that He is, all that He will do, and by
the power of His Holy Spirit, He identifies us as His. And so He puts His name on all of us. In fact, it's kind of interesting what was
going on here in the book of Numbers as Israel gathered together. Can you imagine that scene after Israel has
left Egypt? They were in the wilderness. Where did they gather together? At the tabernacle? Where was God's presence in a sense at that
time? Where was that tabernacle as it was set up
within the camp of Israel? Right in the center. God was right in the center of His people. He would place His name within the assembly. He was in the tabernacle. That's where His presence was. The tabernacle was the center. It was the center of what would take place
when they marched, when they moved when they then camped. It was at the very center. Now think about that when it comes to us. We are the temple. We are the temple. God's presence should be in our center. We should be centered on God. We are the Body of Christ, and just like the
assembly in the wilderness, God should be right there in the center of our existence. As a whole, as a collective body, definitely,
He's got to be. But individually too, our center must be on
God. And so, when we look at this whole list of
these seven thoughts of God, who's at the center of each one of those? I mean this is God's thinking. God's at the center of every one of these
things. So when we think, "All right, how does God
look at me? What is God's perspective? What is God's best thought when it comes to
me?" Well, it's certainly not that He's far off. It's not that He doesn't care. We can't know God's thinking. We can't understand. He wants us always to know that in whatever
circumstance this life brings, whether good times or bad times, whether it's certain or
uncertain, we've got a God who's on our side. We've got a God who wants the best for us. And our gracious, loving, heavenly Father
has given us a Savior, given us His Son, and He's poured out His blessings upon us. What does God think about you? Numbers 6:24, "The Lord bless you and keep
you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His
countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put My name on the children
of Israel, and I will bless them."
