Numbers 1:2

For millennia, God’s people have been carrying out a weekly Bible study plan. Every year, they read through the Torah from Genesis to Deuteronomy. In synagogue each week, they read and study a Bible passage—the weekly parshah. This parshah is called “Bamidbar,” which is Hebrew for “In the Wilderness,” and covers Numbers 1:1–4:20.

Numbers is the book of the wilderness — not as romantic metaphor, but as consequence. Israel had been liberated, received the covenant, built the tabernacle. They had everything needed to enter the promised land. Then they refused. Forty years of wandering followed. Numbers is the honest record: the complaints, the rebellions, the longing for Egypt — and running through all of it, a divine faithfulness that failure never defeated. Over seven days, this plan inhabits the long middle Numbers describes, because every serious community of faith is living in some version of it right now.

Friendship with God is all about growing your relationship with God. Throughout scripture God has many names. Comforter, Lord, Protector, Provider and on. One of the things He called Himself that really hit me hard was that He called Himself my friend. What could life look like if we live like God was actually our friend? This changed my life and I hope it will change yours as well!

To discover the truths from a book like Numbers, which we tend to skip, this reading plan teaches us to have a devotion while also having a systematic study, in spite of the not so exciting chapters.