Camping and Setting Out

Scripture Verse that Caught my attention today: Numbers 9:17 Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp.

Observation: The Israelites needed to be in tune with the Lord, able to respond to the sign to move and the sign to rest. The Israelites were vagabonds of a sort—they wandered to and fro, though according to the direction of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. Camping was a way of life. They would set out and then they would pause for unpredictable periods of time.

Application: Granted, these days the signs of when to move and when to stay in life do not appear, at first glance, to be as dramatic as in days of old. And by and large we are no longer a ‘camping’ people; very few people wander the earth in some sort of quasi Israelite fashion. But I also wonder how many of us take the time to intentionally strive to be in tune with the Lord. Listening is work… and it takes time…it requires a focus beyond self and the pressing concerns of the moment.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, a season when Christians historically focus more intentionally on the ways of God which, ultimately, was/is the way of the cross. Many ‘voices’ will endeavor to pull us from that journey…will try to convince us that it’s time to move on. But the journey to the cross follows different rhythm. It does shift between moving and pausing, but in a way that is out of sync with the more worldly answers to should I stay or should I go.

Sometimes, to be honest, it’s hard to distinguish between the two. That’s usually a sign that more listening is required…more trust in God’s ability to be God and more willingness on our part to be at peace with what we do not yet know.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for the beginning of this most meaningful season. Allow us to enter it ever more fully. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Numbers 8-9 and Acts 28)