"Beyond Numbers"

“Beyond Numbers”

 

During my college years I took a civil service exam to be eligible for post office work during vacations. After I was seated the proctors explained the procedure, including a tracking number on the first page of the test booklet. We were then told, “For this examination you are no longer a name, you are a number.” Fast forward five decades to 2017. When I recently called my doctor’s office for an appointment I was asked for my birth date and (surprise) Social Security number. While this makes locating test results and medical records as well as scheduling quicker and easier it can also make us feel more like a statistic than a person.

The long-running TV sitcom “Cheers” had as its theme song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” (written and sung by Gary Portnoy), which became the program’s catch phrase. I can’t remember ever seeing a full episode, but in researching the overall plot of the series the bar patrons shared their experiences and got to know each other by name. The show illustrates how we all need those contexts in which we’re not anonymous and are known by name rather than “Hey, You” or a number.

I was reading in the Book of Numbers not long ago and in the midst of genealogies and other details surrounding Israel’s life in the wilderness a phrase jumped out at me: “The total number of firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.” (Numbers 3:43, emphasis added). Keep in mind there were no computers or typewriters (remember them?) to help—the lists were written by hand! What a massive undertaking! But people were more than statistics to God—each had an identity. And He still sees us as individuals (“…The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”—Matthew 10:30) and loves us with a special relationship (“See, I have engraved you on the palms of your hands….”—Isaiah 49:16). In the words of songwriter Tommy Walker,

   “He knows my name. He knows my ev’ry thought.

   He sees each tear that falls, and hears me when I call.”

I’m glad I’m more than a number to God—I’m His special child. And He’s there for me—and you.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan