Numbers 10:11-13 - On the twentieth
day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from
above the tabernacle of the covenant law. Then the
Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place
until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. They set out, this first
time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.
God had Moses make 2 silver trumpets…hammered by hand to use
as signals for gathering… moving… and war calls. And after a full year of
activities …giving Moses the commands to live by… preparations for worship….training
the priests to offer sacrifices …counting the men and organizing them or future wars….and build up
and break down the tabernacle for travel…they began the next leg of their
experience with God.
It was a short trip…a mere three days to the wilderness of
Paran….but they followed God’s directions for moving his tabernacle and ark. They had arrived safely from the first three
days of travel. Perhaps it was just a practice session…to see how well they
would follow directions. But God moved in their lives…taking them that much
closer to the promises he had made to their patriarch Abraham.
It is a reminder of two things for me. First…when God says go….go with every ounce
of energy and wisdom he has given you to go with. Second…when he says stop…stop and see what he
needs before moving again. Perhaps it would be easier for us to follow him
sometimes if we too had a cloud that settled where we are supposed to end up…
and we were able to lay out fleeces like Gideon for answers to our deepest
questions. But cloud or not…fleeces or not…God still directs our path…and
answers our prayers in his time.
The answers are clear when we stay in his will….pray….meditate
on his word….and seek wisdom from others that do the same. The epiphany of
wisdom comes for me when I least expect it...in the middle of some simple task
he has given me to do….sometimes even in a wakeful moment during the early
hours of the morning.
Father….thank you for the reminder to be ready to move when
you have a task for me to do. Forgive me
for the times that I did not listen when you needed me to move…or moved too
fast because I got nervous waiting on your answer. Help me to be so in tune
with you that I can’t help but know exactly what you are thinking… so I can see
clearly those plans you have for me…that are good…that will give me hope for my
future. Amen.
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