https://odb.org/2025/03/08/the-list-is-life
Numbers 26:4 (NIV): 4 “Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the LORD commanded Moses.” These were the Israelites who came out of Egypt:
We needed to wake up at 5.30 a.m. and travel out of the city early yesterday morning to come back to Seremban for the weekend and thus didn’t have time to write and send out yesterday’s morning devotion. But the topic was intriguing, and thus, I am writing about it today.
The bible has places where a list of names appears, like in Numbers 26. In the latter, a census was taken, and those who were delivered by Moses out of Egypt en route to the Promised Land were accounted for one by one. Other lists are found like in Genesis 5, tracing the descendants of Adam or the famous geneology of Jesus in Matthew 1. It is interesting to read name lists if we are history buffs looking for “who is who” in a lineage of kings and emperors or even ordinary people but if we need to memorise the names for exams, then it becomes a nightmare indeed! But usually name lists in the bible are boring to read. They have little meaning to us unless we are in them somehow like a great descendant is amongst the many names, like the memoriam set up for those who fought and died in wars.
Even though name lists may be boring to read, it does reflect one thing – that our God the LORD made the effort throughout generations to remember people who had come and gone. They may be mere human beings, but the LORD remembers each and every single one of them. It goes to show that though we have limited lifespans and life stretches thousands of years, we were never a mere statistic. Each and every one of us has a name and a lifetime of history and memories. We all have millions of moments lived out in life.
This brings us to the ultimate name list that we all seek out for, and that is the names of those written in the Book of Life. Through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary, and our faith in Jesus, we have our names written in the Book of Life, and as much as the Devil tries to distract, deceive and draw us away from the narrow path of righteousness that leads to eternal life, we will stand firm to ensure that our names remain written in the Book of Life!
This morning, as we set out to our respective churches to worship God, be thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ has done the work for our names to be written in the Book of Life and that we are now co-heirs with Christ to share in the inheritance of the saints! Amen! Hallelujah! All praises be unto God!
Ronnie's Thoughts 