Unveiling Purpose and Motivation From Numbers

This is part of a series of books in which particular verses are picked from books of the bible, and the issues of Purpose, Pursuit and Motivation are explored, in the light of the mind of God for us.
In this book, we explore twelve topics, from different verses in the book of Numbers. They are: The leader; Different duties in the temple; God’s direction; “My life, an offering”; Movement; Contributions and connection with God; Return for service; How not to treat the dead; Punished for lack of faith; You don’t have to die in the wilderness; The leader (2); Who to marry.
Experts:    
The leader
“Jesus is the leader of a new race. The reason he sends us out to preach the gospel to all creature (Mark 16:15) is so that we can introduce the people of the world to new life in Him. The words of the gospel are potent words, having the power of conversion (Romans 1:16).”
Different duties in the temple
“The time is short; you can’t spend a lifetime wondering, when you can be a wonder (Isaiah 8:18).”
God’s direction
“Change comes when we embrace the life of God. But that life comes with sacrifice. God leads us in the direction of making more sacrifice for his kingdom (Luke 14:26-33). He led Jesus to make the sacrifice on the cross and the result was his coming alive from the grave, as a life-giving spirit (1Corinthians 15:45). By losing his life he became one who can give life (John 12:23-27).”
“My life, an offering”
“Even in Christ, our wills are still intact, except now our wills are freed from the hold of the sin nature, is now aided, by the Holy Spirit, to function better. And one way he does that is by shedding the love of God abroad in our heart (Romans 5:5), transforming our heart of stone to heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19-20,36:26-27), making us become lovers of God, loving to please him in all things and in all our ways.”
Movement
“Paul made a precarious journey from Jerusalem to Rome. It was full of twists and turns but it was all about moving in the direction of fulfilling his ministry at a higher level. It was about getting to Rome to be a witness of Jesus there. He moved in the direction of fulfilling the will of God.”
Contributions and connection with God 
“When Noah offered sacrifices after the flood which ravaged the earth, the bible said that God smelled the offering and promised to never destroy the world with a flood (Genesis 8:20-22). Noah connected with God on behalf of humanity with that offering, and God connected back with that promise and said that as long as the earth remains, seed-time and harvest will not cease.”
Return for service
“The bible affirms that we should not be weary in well doing and in due season we would get the reward, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9). There is surely a reward for your service, and God is very meticulous in his observation. Jesus observed the two mites thrown into offering “basket” in the temple by a poor widow, and marked her for a special recognition (Luke 21:1-4).”
How not to treat the dead
“We understand that we have eternal life.  The natural time bound life that we have in this body is not all there is about us, we therefore lay our treasures in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:19-21), where there is uncertainty.  We are not like the rich fool who was not rich towards God but whose focus is mainly on the earthly life (Luke 12:15-21).”