Don’t hit the tent pegs in too far!

            The journey through the wilderness for the people of Israel was very much a time of transition from the life of slavery in Egypt to the freedom and blessings of God in the promised land.  However, the journey itself was full of many experiences of God’s leading and provision.

            Very little is said about the actual details of what was involved in their travels.  There are some passages that help us to get a little picture of what it must have been like moving around the desert for forty years.  In Numbers chapter 2 we see how the camp was arranged around the tent of meeting.  Chapter 3 describes the arrangement for the priests and the Levites around the tabernacle.  They were each arranged according to their tribes, and camped under their family banners. 

            When the people of Israel set out on their journey they followed an order described in chapter 10.  Every tribe knew its position and place both in the camp and when they moved.  Because of this order they were able to move efficiently.

            There is one other detail given in chapter 9 which I would like to focus on.  On the day the tabernacle was set up the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony.  There was always a cloud covering the tabernacle during the day time, and at night it had the appearance of fire.

            Whenever the cloud lifted the people set out, and when it came to rest, they camped.  This was the Lord’s way of indicating when they were to move and when they were to stay put.  Sometimes the cloud would stay over the tabernacle for one night and they moved on the next day.  At other times the cloud stayed put for longer, even for as long as a month or more.  They moved when it lifted, and they camped when it rested.  The people didn’t know whether it would be a short camp or a longer camp.  In other words, they needed to be ready to move whenever the cloud lifted. 

            There is a spiritual principle here.  The people of Israel had to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.  They didn’t want to put in the tent pegs too deeply, as it would take more effort to uproot and move on.  This is a challenge to me.  How ready and easily can I move if the Lord wants me to do so?  There are many things that can get in the way of us being ready to follow the Lord when He moves.  We can become so embedded in our present lives that we might not be willing to pay the price to pull up our roots and move with the Lord.  The comfort of a nice home, a secure job, an enjoyable church fellowship, our family and friends, our personal desires and ambitions can all become hindrances to moving with the Lord.  Have we become so encumbered by our lives that we find pulling up our tent pegs hard to do?

            Of course, this may not necessarily mean moving physically to another town, place or country.  It might mean being willing to move with the times as the Lord lead us, in the sense of being willing to make changes in our individual lives so that we have more time for the Lord, or are available for God to use us to bless others.   Work, interests or hobbies, pleasure/leisure can all get in the way, good though they may be.  In other words, we need to think about what is important to us – living and doing what the Lord wants us to do, or allowing our self interests and desires to have the priority.

Another area is for the church to be ready to move as the Lord directs.  If we are not careful, we can get stuck in a rut and be unwilling to move when the Lord wants to move.  We allow our self-interests and preconceived ideas of what we think is right, rather than allowing the Lord to lead us into new avenues of service as the situations around us change.  We can hold on to things tightly so that when the Lord wants us to move, we find it difficult to let go of our cherished ways of doing things.  We might see change as uncomfortable and inconvenient.  Of course, change cannot be forced, but needs to be introduced in such a way that people can see that it is the Lord who is in control of the direction. 

            The people of Israel had to be ready at a moment’s notice to move.  So they no doubt didn’t allow their lives to get settled so that they could move when the time came.  They made sure they could pull up their tent pegs easily.  How willing are we to make the Lord our first priority and be available for the Lord to move the direction of our lives?  That is the question I need to ask myself, and I trust you will ask too.