Numbers 15:37-41: a reflection

37The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 38“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue. 39It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all the LORD’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute; 40so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”

God gives Israel an unusual instruction: to make tassels on the corners of their garments, with a cord of blue, and to wear them throughout their generations. But the tassels were not merely decorative; they had a purpose. When you see them, God says, you will remember all my commandments and do them, and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which lead you astray. The tassels were a built-in, everyday reminder to keep God's people mindful of him.

The wisdom of this is in its recognition of how forgetful we are. Left to ourselves, we drift; we follow our own hearts and our own eyes, our wandering desires and impulses, and forget God's commandments. So God gave a physical, visible reminder, woven into the very clothes they wore, so that the ordinary act of getting dressed would call God to mind. He knew his people needed help to remember, and he provided it, a small thing seen a hundred times a day, quietly recalling them to himself.

We are just as forgetful, and just as prone to follow our own hearts and eyes into wandering. The tassels suggest the value of building reminders of God into our ordinary lives, small, visible, repeated things that call him to mind through the day, a verse where we will see it, a habit of prayer at set times, a physical token that recalls us to God. Do not trust yourself to remember God without help. Build reminders into your daily life, as God taught his people to do, so that you stay mindful of him and do not drift after your own wandering desires.

Lord, you gave your people tassels to remember your commandments and not to follow their own wandering hearts and eyes. You know how forgetful I am, how easily I drift. Help me to build reminders of you into my ordinary life, small things that call you to mind through the day. Keep me mindful of you and your ways, so that I do not follow my own wandering desires but remember and obey you. Amen.