Numbers 9:23 At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses. I find it interesting that the 5-7 verses prior to this reiterate the same point over and over in different ways – when the cloud hovered over the tabernacle they stayed put, no matter how long it stayed; when the cloud moved, they moved. Usually in Hebrew that repetition means it’s an important point being made. Ultimately, I think that Moses is emphasizing the importance of obedience – again. The verse above makes it even clearer that all their movement was at the command of God. They didn’t wander around the desert at Sinai whenever they felt like it (if they had, I’d imagine they’d have tried to cut a couple of years off of the journey). Sometimes they stayed put for a day, sometimes for a month, and sometimes for a year. But no matter how long they stayed, it was at the command of the LORD. The tricky thing is applying this today. I don’t have a cloud hovering over a tabernacle to guide me. I have the Holy Spirit, but I’ve found that knowing what He wants of me is often a very difficult task. It doesn’t seem to me that it should be so difficult. After all, I’ve been told that God wants me to know His will. Even if I look back at His faithfulness in the past, how do I use that to make decisions about things today? A practical example of this is that I currently have a teaching contract for next year (yeah!), but my current school is quite far from where I live and I spend a small fortune in gas and tolls getting to and from work. I would like to find a job closer to where I currently live, but how do I know if this is the right thing to do? Do I put in applications and trust God to open or close doors at His discretion? I don’t really know. I want to be obedient, to move at the command of God, but I don’t know how. That’s frustrating. PS. A thought I just had was that the Israelites had to constantly be watching to see when God moved. So, probably part of the process is watching where He’s working… Unfortunately, these days that’s kind of hard to do.
Micah 2:6 “Don’t say such things,” the people say. “Don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way!” This reminds me of when I’ve asked people for advice about a decision, but then not wanted to listen to them when they said something I didn’t want to hear. You know, like when I’ve already got an answer I’m hoping for, and they don’t give it… Yeah. And then I ignore their warnings and disaster is the result of my not listening. Although I don’t think I’m quite as blatant as the people in this verse, in my heart it’s the same. I know that God uses people to help direct me in His path. I need to learn to listen to them even if it’s not what I want to hear. Yes, it’s a good idea to pray about any advice given and check it against God’s Word, but if it’s good advice from a Godly mentor or friend, it’s worth considering, even when it isn’t what I had hoped for.
Proverbs 4: 27 – 29Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. I’ve been listening to a sermon series by Andy Stanley and it’s about the paths we choose to walk. Each decision puts us on a path that has a destination. The problem is that we tend to see our decisions/choices as events instead of paths. Then when we make bad decisions and end up at a destination that we don’t like we’re confused. He uses a great example to make this point: it doesn’t matter how much you plan to go to Florida, pack for Florida, talk about how you’re going to go to Florida, if you get on I75 Northbound (from Atlanta) then you’ll never get to Florida. The road just doesn’t go there. Or another example that kind of hit home (reminding me of some earlier choices in my life): a girl says that she wants to marry a guy who loves Jesus and treats her well, but decides to date any guy who asks her out. Talk is cheap. The choices we make aren’t just events that effect one small moment of our lives. We have choices because we get distracted or at least in part because of what catches our attention. So that means we have to be extremely careful about what we allow to capture our attention. The reason for this is that where we look, we tend to go. Think about a horse with a bridle. If the horse turns its head to look that direction, it will go that way (usually). That’s what a bridle does – it turns the horse’s head. It’s similar when we drive (this is the illustration Andy Stanley uses). You have to be really careful looking at passing object or other cars because there’s a tendency to steer towards them. In these verses Solomon reminds us that we need to be careful what we fix our eyes on, not getting distracted by things that will turn our head and get us off course. He also reminds us that paths have destinations and we need to pick a path with a destination that we want. Then we must stick to the path and not get distracted and wander off the path. Those sidetracked paths have destinations, too. The problem is, you probably won’t like where any of them lead, and you may get stuck with only a few choices, and none of them will be good. I feel like in some ways I’ve gotten distracted, I’ve made choices that took me off the path I wanted for my life, and I’m stuck with very few choices now, none of which are good. It has affected me and my family, and that’s sad. This is a sermon I wish I’d heard a lot earlier, before the bad decisions were made (of course, they didn’t seem bad at the time, but I should have listened more carefully to the counsel of others who could see the path ahead more clearly). However, that being said, God is still a God of rescue and a God of hope. So, I will continue to trust Him to help us sort out this situation and get back on the path we want. Nothing is impossible with God.