The other night I was reading the devotional book "Our Daily Bread" (a great supplement to any Bible study plan, by the way!) and was arrested by the assigned scripture reading. To my shame, I was pretty sleepy and wasn't expecting anything too earth-shattering from the book of Numbers.
But the repeated phrase "at the command of the Lord" or "according to the command of the Lord" drew me in.
The scene: the sons of Israel are wandering in the wilderness after escaping slavery in Egypt. God is leading them to a land they are unfamiliar with and they need to follow Him to get there. He graciously provided a cloud that hovered over the tabernacle to guide them.
Let these words wash over you (emphasis mine):
"At the command of the LORD the sons of Israel would set out and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the LORD'S charge and not set out. If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the LORD they remained camped. Then according to the command of the LORD they set out. If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out. Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted they did set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out; they kept the LORD'S charge, according to the command of the LORD through Moses."
-Numbers 9:18-23 (NASB)What word first comes to mind? For me it was obedience. And then trust. No matter how long or how short the cloud stayed, the Israelites were faithful to trust God's leading and stay or prepare to move out. Just finished setting up camp a few hours ago? Cloud's moving! Time to pack up! Haven't seen the cloud budge since last summer...thinking maybe God moved on and forgot to move the cloud to let you know? Stay put. No matter what God's reasons were for staying or going, His people trusted His leading and were faithful to pack up and move or stay put according to His direction.
How aptly this cuts to my own heart! I may not have a physical cloud hovering over my life to provide direction, but I have something (Someone) even greater- God has put His own Spirit to dwell in me, and the same principle of His leading and my following is just as applicable to me in my daily life as it was to the journeying, desert-weary Israelites. Galatians 5:25 says,
"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (NIV)And Jesus says of the Holy Spirit,
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you..." - John 16:13 (NASB)As I thought of this and how it pertains to the current uncertainty of our adoption journey, it turned my heart again to renew its trust of Him, our Guide.
Whether He leaves us camped in this seemingly empty wasteland of unfulfilled desires for a few days, months or years, or whether He calls us to pack up the camp at a moment's notice and move in a new direction full of adventures and unknowns, we are at the command of the LORD.
We choose to trust that He knows where He is leading us when we cannot see.
At the command of the LORD we camp.
At the command of the LORD we set out.
