The Book of Numbers

~ Brianne Turczynski

*I have no authority to teach you lessons from the Bible, I only hope you will find something useful. You might disagree with my interpretation and that’s OK!

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“When you cross the Jordan in to Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.” –Numbers 33:51

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OK verses such as the above are what gives God a bad rap. It sounds violent and scary and seems to advertise war. But I will tell you that you must not look at the surface for the meaning in scripture, people that do often miss the truth and can interpret wrongly. Go deeper and this verse takes on a different shape entirely: Before your spirit can settle in peace with God and with yourself, drive out all things that are holding you back from a true and pure existence—all that you consider an ‘idol’ should be destroyed. For me, for a long time, my ‘idol’ getting traditionally published. I prayed and prayed for this to happen. But it wasn’t until I read this verse and saw my own folly in holding that goal on a pedestal of importance over many other things, and asking myself exactly WHY I wanted my books out there (was it for selfish reasons, or was my goal to help people?), that I was able to give up the idea and decide instead to be happy no matter what happened to all my books, poems, essays and dedicate my writing to the purpose of GOOD. Once I did this I found a publisher. Call that whatever you like, but I know where this gift came from. Have faith and hope that God will show you the way, but we must be patient and trust Him with all our hearts. That’s what I think anyway.

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Published by Brianne Turczynski

I'm the host and creator of the podcast, Loving the Imperfect. I'm a freelance writer and historical researcher in Detroit. I hold a master’s degree in education from Oakland University with a concentration in English and history. My fiction and poetry have appeared in Halcyone Magazine, The 3288 Review, The Write Launch, and the Ketchup Press. My nonfiction has been featured in Valley Living Magazine, Michigan Out of Doors Magazine, and Planet Detroit News. I have won awards for my writing through Oakland University, and my film, Not For Sale was selected for three film festivals. In my spare time, I whittle, repair broken violins, and I love to fish. I reside somewhere in Michigan with my husband, children, and the fastest dog that ever lived.

12 thoughts on “The Book of Numbers”

    2. To add to this, I was going to point out that the book of Numbers is the book where I stopped reading for five months, because I was bored. But some five months later I began to have this really intense craving to pick it up and not only finish Numbers but continue on with my original goal to finish the entire Bible.

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      1. It’s great to be steeped in scripture. I don’t want to read the Bible again all the way through, but I always read the passages that go with a daily devotional. We have Bible study at church, too.

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