God can speak through numbers

There are times in our walk with God when he decides to communicate with us differently than we’re used to. I believe he does this to cause us to draw us into a closer relationship with him. He will often get our attention through something repetitive. He does the same thing within the scripture. Anytime you see something multiple times there’s a reason for it.

In 2013 I began working remotely for an ad agency that was a couple of hours away. As I shared in a previous post, I could see God’s hand in the way everything lined up for me to work there. During my very first week on the job, I traveled to the office for a couple of days to meet everyone and begin getting up to speed. 

I checked into a charming historic hotel just a couple blocks from the office where I’d be staying where I was assigned to room 333. The number caught my attention. I knew from scripture that three was a number that reflected the triune nature of God, Jesus’ ministry was three years and I knew Jesus rose after three days. It was a number that reflected divine completion. At the time I saw three threes I felt like God was letting me know that this was his plan and was reminding me of his presence. I took a picture of the door sign to commemorate this new journey. 

God got my attention through repetition

The following week my boss had set up meetings where I lived to introduce me to some of our partners. As we were driving through town we passed a unique-looking building with giant threes on the side of it. It caught my eye since I had just seen the same number the week prior. I hadn’t been in that part of town often so I had never noticed it. At the time I thought it was just a coincidence. 

The following day my boss asked me to meet him at a particular location for another meeting. 

I typed in the name of the destination in my GPS and ended up arriving about 15 minutes early. I sat in the car and waited awhile. It was getting close to the time of the meeting and I was still waiting for my boss to arrive. I wondered if maybe he was already waiting for me inside. 

I began walking toward the building and above the entry was a three-digit address number. Wanna take a guess? Yes, it was 333. 

I realized quickly that there was another location with the same name which was where we were to meet. It was as if Holy Spirit had taken me on this little detour in order to see this number again.

For five months I continued to see this number often. I’d see it on license plates, on price labels, in my inbox, on the clock….just about everywhere. I kept asking the Lord “Why do I keep seeing this number? What are you trying to say to me?”

A mystery revealed

One day I was on a website purchasing vitamins. I was scanning the reviews of a particular product to see if it was something I’d like to purchase. As I read one of the reviews I noticed the person had their username listed under their review as Jeremiah333. That was it! I finally had my answer. It was a scripture, duh!

I must say, I felt rather silly once God revealed this mystery to me. Surely I should have been able to figure out that He was trying to point me to scripture but for some reason, I didn’t catch on. 

I now know that there are several Christians that talk about the biblical significance of numbers. At the time I was seeing this number everywhere I just didn’t think to look online for an answer. I’m actually glad that I didn’t. I’ve learned that many times the Lord shows us something we’re not familiar with to draw us to him for the answer. It’s interesting that what he showed me pointed to Jeremiah 33:3 in particular because the scripture itself is an invitation to call to him. It was originally a spoken word to the prophet Jeremiah but he used it as a Rhema word to speak to me that day and has since continued to speak to me through it. 

“Call unto me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” 

Jeremiah 33:3

The significance of numbers in scripture

Now that I know God speaks through numbers, it’s one avenue the Lord uses to speak to me. It may seem strange that God would use a number to speak to us but if you understand just how often numbers are used in scripture it makes sense. For example, the number seven is frequently mentioned in Scripture. There were seven days of creation (Genesis 1-2) and there are seven days in a week. The Israelites were asked to circle the walls of Jericho seven times before they fell down (Joshua 6:15). Naaman was asked to wash in the Jordan seven times in order to be cleansed of Leprosy (2 Kings 5:10). You can see repeatedly that it represents completeness.

Do you see?

Have you ever noticed God speaking to you this way? I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit and look to the scriptures to see what the Lord may be showing you through it. Could it be that the Lord is pointing you to a verse found in scripture that he wants to use to speak to you?

How else might God be trying to get your attention? 

Pay attention when you begin to notice an occurrence that’s out of the ordinary or if there’s something that is repetitive. Rather than just passing it off as something odd or coincidental ask the Lord if he might be trying to say something to you through it. You might be surprised by what you will find.