With so many of God’s people roaming around in the wilderness, it makes sense that God would command them to be orderly. I can just imagine the chaos of establishing a highly mobile residence in a desert-like region like that if each tribe didn’t have their assigned space.
When it came time to move, there was also an order for leaving established for the clan leadership to follow. I had a flashback to being in school, choosing line leaders, and lining up at the designated time to walk the halls. Classrooms also had their dismissal order to follow. Having an orderly progression helped us students know when and where to move. For the Israelites’, God thought of everything!
As I picture this Israelite camp in my minds eye, what strikes me is where God was in this whole arrangement. The tabernacle or tent of meeting was set up in the middle with all the tribes circling around. What a beautiful picture of how God wants to be in a prominent place in our hearts and lives.
The prompts to move were also given by God it would seem. When the camp moves, the Levites had been chosen as the designated ones to move God’s presence, the Tabernacle. I couldn’t help but notice that God was still in their midst in the traveling with two groups of tribes ahead and two groups of tribes bringing up the rear. God was always with the people, just like he is always with us.
When we read passages like this, we want to discount them as just facts. We may even wonder what God is saying to us or why such instructions were included in the Bible if they only apply to such a limited window of time. The Israelites were lost in the wilderness for only 40 years, after all. But those years were pivotal moments for God’s chosen people. Seeing God’s provision speaks to his faithfulness to us today.
Our faith history is all part of this time in the wilderness, and understanding our “roots” is never a bad thing. Seeing God moving in passages like this can also happen. What do we see here? God’s arrangement for the camp put him in the center. There could be no mistaking and leaving God out of things. His presence was visible and interactive.
We’ve read in Leviticus about all the laws God put in place to connect with his people. This is just one more glorious way God reached down to relate to us. Being connected is where God wants to be. He sent Jesus to be among us, and that’s a whole different story happening many generations later. But there again, God wanted to be among his people. In Jesus, he was up close and personal with us.
As I write this, we’re in the “season of Christmas,” those twelve days after the birth of Christ. We’ve just experienced the celebration of God’s coming to earth as a wee baby. Each time we celebrate the miracle of Christmas, it’s a special reminder of God’s love and desire to be among us. Emmanuel. God with us. It shouldn’t matter what time of year it is, our faith should remain strong year-round in our God whose faithfulness knows no end.
The same God who prescribed these floorplan-like living arrangements so he could be close, loves us so deeply that he sent Jesus to rescue us, too. Jesus brought the divine to earth, the Lord’s tabernacle in human form. He lived among us, faithfully leading and teaching us his Father’s will. So we don’t forget, he then sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us. Now that’s close! How precious is that. God still knows what we need.
In our own lives, when we move so does God. Why do we forget to acknowledge God sometimes in our every day? He promised he’d never leave us. If we’re feeling far from God, it isn’t God. It’s us. Do you need a floor-plan kind of road map to find your way back to God?
God’s messages are always active and moving in his word, even when on first read through a passage we’re left scratching our heads. What sort of message did you grab from today’s passage? For me, it’s putting God in the center of all things where I can see him clearly.
Let’s pray. Father God, thank you for the reminder of how much you long to be with me, in the center of all I say and do. I’m so grateful for your persistence with me and your never- ending faithfulness. Deliver me from testing and forgive me for my weakness. May I keep my eyes focused on you as you strengthen me for your service. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
