Number 432 Miracle
Whenever God does something that comes suddenly and without any effort of my own, it’s a miracle. Number 432 was one and it is similar to One Word Miracle.
I was having a difficult time sleeping and began thinking about the upcoming women’s conference I will be speaking. I have been told there will be approximately 500 women in attendance.
I began thinking about how precise God is with numbers in the Bible. Nowhere do I find where God says “approximately.” He always gives exact numbers. I began to pray for the women who will be in attendance and my heart rejoiced at the thought how God knows exactly how many women will be there, who will be there, and he knows each of them by name.
It was around 4:30 am and I continued to toss and turn. My mind shifted from numbers and how little time remains to prepare before we’re all together. I thought about how God has asked me to spend more of my time in devotion to him as preparation. At the end of some of my days, I am disappointed in myself and my lack of self-discipline that I hadn’t spent more time with God, but my heart aches more because I’ve disappointed God.
More negative thoughts began to creep in and suddenly my mind was racing with guilt and failure. I may not have been sleeping well but now the enemy was trying to wreak more havoc by getting my mind off who I am in Christ.
I was not going to let the enemy have it. I had already lost a good amount of sleep and now it was nearing 5:30 am. I was going to focus on what is good by praying and quoting scripture. As I did, my mind slowed down and the thoughts that had been bombarding me began to dissipate.
My thoughts of the conference came to an end and the number 432 popped in my head. It was as clear as if you were staring at me in the face and said “432.”
“Yes, 432 is the number,” I thought. I knew if I didn’t record it I would forget it. I quickly grabbed my phone and sent myself an email with nothing more than the number. I went back to sleep.
Morning came and as I was getting ready for the day, I began processing what I had been thinking about in the early morning hours. I began to feel sad for the days I fail God when it comes to sacrificing more of my time with him. “I need to do a better job managing my time,” I thought. I said a silent, prayer, “Lord, help me to manage my time so that I can do your will.”
I kept thinking of the things that flooded my mind in the night. Sacrifice. Failing God. Managing my time. God wasn’t putting pressure on me, therefore, why was I putting pressure on myself?
As I was having this “conversation” with myself, I remembered that 432 was the last thing I thought of before quoting scripture before getting another 30 minutes in of sleep. When I thought of the number I had a stillness, a peace.
I’ve had a few dreams and words from the Lord with numbers and because they came to mean something specific, I wasn’t too quick to dismiss 432 as just some random idea that flickered through my mind because I had insomnia.
I said a prayer and asked God to show me if this number had any significance in my life. As I began to journal it, a sudden thought came over me. “Turn to page 432 in my Bible.”
If you’re wondering if it’s the Holy Spirit speaking in moments like this, think of it like this. If it is the Holy Spirit speaking, you'll find out soon enough and if he isn’t, what do you have to lose? I had nothing to lose. What I did know is that I wasn’t looking for a random answer from God. Read more how to hear the voice of God: Five Clues to Know When the God is Speaking to You; Man Taught vs. God Taught; One Word Miracle.
I went directly to page 432 of 2219 pages in my study Bible. The page started in the middle of a chapter but I decided to start reading at the top of the page.
The page was a continuation where Saul had just made a sacrifice to the Lord using the best of the sheep and cattle that God had told him to destroy along with the entire Amalekite nation. I Samuel 15:15
Samuel asked Saul, “Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do exactly what the Lord said not to do?” I Samuel 15:19
Saul said he wanted to please God and was making a sacrifice unto him. He was sacrificing the “best,” but God had told him to kill everything. Samuel asked him, “what is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.” I Samuel 15:22
God had started a conversation with me in the early morning hours and now he was finishing it. “Your obedience to do my will, to focus on me is where I am pleased. Your sacrifice each day may not be the “perfect offering,” [time management] but I didn’t seek a perfect sacrifice, I asked for obedience.” “You’re being obedient.” “…Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” Hebrews 9:14
What appeared to be a random number was a specific word from the Lord. I felt like I was sitting with my friend who just said, “check out page 432 in your Bible.” Like a text from a friend who says, “watch this movie on Netflix.” It was that plain and that simple. That is encouragement at it’s best from a perfect God and friend!
Samuel later admitted he had sinned. He said he made the sacrifice because he was afraid of what the people were demanding of him. He listened to people, not man. The Lord works with those who he has called and those who say yes! I Samuel 15:12-23
I never would have known a miracle in a number awaited me if I had not devoted some of my morning with God to prayer and reading my Bible. I would have missed out on this lovely, personal conversation with the Lord. I’m so thankful for his grace and mercy. I give him all of my praise and thanks!
I try to keep before me what God taught me a few years back. Living in God’s presence is a lifestyle. I don’t want my lifestyle to fit God in. I’m to please God when it comes to how I spend my time, not man. The lessons God taught me previously flooded my mind as I thought of my preparation time. See excerpt below from Submerged Into the Presence of God.
Excerpt from Submerged Into the Presence of God:
“I’ve come to realize that understanding this commitment to God as a “job,” is the only way he has been able to get through to me the importance of not neglecting worship and prayer with him...In the following weeks, I began to see that an active time of worship is where God can begin to increase my faith to step into the impossible. God knows I need this; therefore, I embraced calling this “my job,” knowing that many people will snicker or even disapprove of how I spend my time. This is when I must stand on the solid ground of scripture to please God and not man. When I would say no, to others I bore this constant guilt of letting people down. It’s a blessed season of life with more time to commit to the Lord regularly and with more energy. Relinquishing my professional career for God’s calling on my life affords me more time to do what God has called me to. I have the privilege and blessing to write as God directs me in the comforts of my home. What God continues to show me is that busy work keeps me from knowing him. “Busy work” is what can keep me from being active in my work for the Kingdom of God. It is still a struggle and doesn’t come easy to say no to others. Nevertheless, I’ve asked God to help me recognize when I am saying no to him.” (p. 76)
