Logistics. Details. I love the planning. I love it when a plan comes together. I know it might be labeled under the category of really weird, but I also know there are others who get what I’m saying and are, right now, mentally raising their hands and saying, “That’s me.”

On my commute to work, I often listen to my audio Bible. I push play as I back out and start to listen as I drive. On one recent commute, I was making my way through the books of Leviticus and Numbers, and even I get bogged down with the details, the numbers, and dare I say, the boring logistics? Most of us might skip past these chronicles of logistical significance. I know I have on several attempts.

The counting of the males over the age of two months for the purpose of numbering Israel by tribe or tallying the number of men over 20 who can fight for Israel. Or the exact measurements of the tabernacle and the tabernacle furnishings, colors, type of fabric or metal, weights. And what about all the commandments and ordinances that Moses passed along to the Israelites? The “do this” and “don’t do that” commands. The many types of offerings (burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, wave offering, fellowship offering, peace offering and yes, I googled to name just these—too many to remember); the multiple festivals; offerings for the individual, for the family and for the tribe; which parts of the animals were clean versus unclean; how to offer them and under what circumstances. I’m overwhelmed. I could never remember every detail!

About halfway to work, I start to wonder how would you move a crowd this size? The order of the tribes as they marched out of camp to follow the cloud of God by day and the fire by night. The men alone numbered over 600,000, so adding in women and children, it would be like moving, at a minimum, the population of DuPage County (over 922,000 in 2019) at a moment’s notice. Moses, are we staying here for the day or for the next month or the next year? Can you imagine the logistics of providing food and water for a crowd of this size?

So, as I plow through these two books of the Bible, I wonder why do we need these specifics recorded for us? I plan and write out my plans for an event or a project, but I certainly don’t expect them to be passed down through time. Matter of fact, completion of a project heads to the paper shredder. So, why?

Three things come to mind as I ponder.

God is a God of order. The examples I’ve mentioned boggle my mind in terms of keeping order, and yet highlight to me the importance of order to pull off something so massive. Plan your work; work your plan. He is a God of details, right down to the tedious, to the very fiber of each tabernacle curtain. How this gives me comfort as he orders the details of my life.

God is a God of provision. As God laid out the laws, he gave protection through his commands about what foods to eat and not eat, sometimes just to expect obedience, but also to protect the Israelites from illness and death. He provided laws which governed a vertical relationship with him and horizontal relationships among the people as a whole and in the family. He provided them with the land on which to live and assigned them according to the sizes of their tribes and what the land could sustain. He provided his people with leadership to guide them in his ways. He provided sustenance and the clothing on their backs and shoes on their feet. He provided a means by which the Israelites could be spared from their sins—through sacrifices and offerings.

God is a God of grace. It’s this that becomes an overarching theme for me. I am humbled by the staggering requirements placed on God’s people at that time. As much as I enjoy details, I cannot get my head around all that they had to remember to offer sacrifices pleasing to God, to gain his favor, to satisfy the holiness of a jealous God. And I think that’s the point.

The standard is impossible; the burden too great. We can’t do it on our own. I am awed by the gift of a perfect sacrifice who paid it all for me. I don’t have to remember when and how and what, but I do need to remember the who and the why. My sinful nature requires atonement that allows me to stand in the presence of a holy God.

My God has ordered the universe to provide his Son as the ultimate sacrifice that extends incredible and amazing grace that saves me from me and provides for my eternal home.

This is the real answer of why—his immeasurable, overwhelming and awesome love for me, for his redeemed people.

I arrive at work, but stay in the car for a few more minutes awed by God's unbelievable work over the ages, but more specifically, for me as I start this day.