Numbers 10:11-13 In the second year, in the second month, on
the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of
the testimony, (12) and the people of Israel set out by stages
from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of
Paran. (13) They set out for the first time at the
command of the LORD by Moses.
The people of
Israel had spent just short of a year encamped at Mount Sinai, and now God
gives the command for the people to resume their journey to the Promised Land.
The signals would have been given, the trumpets were blown accordingly and the
tribes began to set out in the given order. At the front, leading the whole
nation, was the pillar of cloud guiding them to their next destination. This
cloud serving once more as a reminder that God was faithfully leading them to
the land He had promised to give them.
With these
verses we come to the end of a remarkable time in the history of this nation.
Think of all that had happened, all they had witnessed, received and
participated in over the past year. God had safely delivered them from Egypt,
brought them through the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai. All this was in accordance
to His promise made to Moses all the way back in Exodus 3:12. Whilst at Mount
Sinai they had enjoyed God’s daily provision of manna and quail. They had seen
the mighty thunder cloud descend upon the mountain and felt the ground shake as
God spoke with them giving them His commands, and He entered into a covenant
with them. They had witnessed the wrath of God against idolatry and learned
that God was not a God to trifled with. The people were able to give to the
work of the tabernacle and then watched it being built. They had participated
in the dedication of the tabernacle once it was completed Also they witnessed
the consecration of the priests and then took part in the first celebration of
the Day of Atonement. All these and many more blessings and evidences of God’s
goodness, grace, faithfulness, presence and power they had witnessed and
enjoyed.
After almost a
year of all these blessings and encouragements, the people must have set out
with a greater measure of confidence, trust and faith in God, as well as a
sense of joy and peace, knowing God would continue to be faithful towards them.
After all they could reflect on the past 12 months and remember all of God’s
goodness.
There are times
in our lives when God is calling on us to take some steps forward, when He
calls on us to journey to a new place, through unknown lands. We know that the
destination is the place where God wants us to be, that it will be the place
that is best for us, but we have to trust God through the journey. For the
people of Israel, it was a journey through the wilderness, through deserts and
arid lands. It would have been a long, hot and tiresome journey for them. But
at the end of the journey was the Promised Land, and every step they took
brought them one step closer to their final destination.
As with any
difficult journey there is always the temptation to give up, to doubt God’s
goodness or purposes, it is easy to feel overcome, lost, or fear you are going
in the wrong direction. How do we keep on going when we feel this way?
We need to
remind ourselves of God’s goodness, His faithfulness and trustworthiness. We
can often spend too much time looking forward and worrying about problems that
are yet to be. When we do this, we can quickly lose sight of the past and
forget how God has proved Himself true and faithful on countless previous
occasions. Somehow we find ourselves thinking that on this occasion God will
fail us, that this time it is different, yet there is still to be a time when
God has failed or will fail.
When God calls on us to follow Him in
faith into an unknown future and we find ourselves fearful, then we need to
look back and ask, “Has God failed me thus far?” “Has God’s faithfulness, goodness
or truth ever been false or absent?” “Has God let me down, failed to provide,
guide and protect?” When we have thought through these questions and considered
the answer to all of them, we should respond in the same manner as King David. 2 Samuel 7:18-22,
“Then King David went in and sat before
the LORD and said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you
have brought me thus far? (19) And yet this was a small thing in your eyes,
O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to
come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD! (20)
And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord
GOD! (21) Because of your promise, and according to
your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant
know it. (22) Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For
there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that
we have heard with our ears.”
Let us not be
afraid to faithfully follow God through unknown lands, but by looking back,
remembering God faithfulness, truth and goodness in the past, we can then begin
to put one foot in front of the other and walk forwards in obedience.
God of truth, faithfulness and goodness, we thank and
praise You today for You are a God that doesn’t fail. All of Your plans and
purposes come to pass and every promise You make, You bring to fulfilment. We
thank You that we can look back upon our lives and see Your hand and Your works
of faithfulness, goodness and truth. Your truly have never forsaken us, nor
treated us as we deserve to be. Help us not to forget that which You have done,
but to daily remind ourselves that Your faithfulness with be the same today and
tomorrow as it was yesterday. May the confident assurance we have in You help
us to follow You faithfully, even when you call us to walk through unknown, rough
and barren lands. Amen.
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