Protecting What Is Most Precious
Numbers 2:17
What do we often consider the most precious and important things in our lives?
Perhaps it’s our house, its contents, those who live there?
In order to protect it, we might put in a security system—at the very least we’ll have locks on our doors and windows.
Perhaps it’s our car—we might have a car alarm, and again, locks.
Perhaps it’s our family (children) – we want to protect them and keep them safe.
We might have some precious possessions or important documents (e.g. birth certificates).
The security for our house isn’t enough, so we put them in a lock box, preserved even if there’s a fire.
What kinds of protections do we place on our faith, on our soul?
In Numbers 2, we note one of those more repetitive passages.
The Lord is telling the Israelites how best to break camp.
He tells them the order in which the tribes were to break camp.
In the first group we have Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
In the second Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
In the third Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin.
And finally we have Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
Nestled in the very middle, in between groups two and three, we have the Levites (2:17).
Before them, we see over 330k people.
Behind them, we see over 350k people.
The Levites, and more to the point, the tabernacle and the holy things were safest here.
This shows us the priority that the Lord placed on that which was holy.
What priority do we place on such things?
What do we do to protect our souls, to protect our faith?
One thing we should do is acquire knowledge.
Hosea notes that God’s people were destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6).
If we want to protect ourselves from destruction, we ought to study.
Along with study, we should not miss worshiping with the saints.
There, with our group Bible studies and sermons, knowledge is there.
In the armor of God, we note that truth, righteousness, peace, salvation, and the Spirit can all be had with studying God’s Word—and the protection that armor provides.
Along the same lines of worshiping together, we gain much encouragement from our fellow Christians (Heb. 10:24-25).
In worship, we are to stir up love and good works, along with exhorting one another.
Earlier, the writer of Hebrews tells us to exhort one another daily (Heb. 3:12-13).
Why? So that we won’t depart from the living God.
This world is often full of discouragement and disappointment, sometimes even from our own brethren.
Yet we are told to encourage one another daily. Such encouragement keeps us strong, letting us know we aren’t alone in the fight.
Being with the brethren, exhorting and encouraging one another, is another way to protect our souls.
So let us be that encourager as we receive the encouragement.
Finally, the best guard there is is Jesus Christ.
His guardianship can be found through prayer (Phil. 4:6-7).
In that passage, Paul talks about something that will guard our hearts and minds.
Whatever this is provides protection of your faith and your soul.
This is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding—but how does one get that?
Through prayer and supplication—simply asking God will help us and protect us.
In that armor of God, prayer is a big part of that, too (Eph. 6:18).
So what protections do you have for your soul, for your faith?
The three we discussed were: study, assembling with the saints, and prayer.
We don’t often know what to study, the brethren aren’t helpful that day, and we’re not sure what to pray for.
If you have any need in that area, let us know.
We can help you with resources for study and we can give encouragement.
Thankfully we have the help of the Holy Spirit when we’re not entirely sure what to pray for (Rom. 8:26).
Whatever the case, let us always pray that God’s will be done! (1 John 5:14-15).