Good morning my friends on this 7th day of December. 80 years ago today, 1941, December 7th was a Sunday that President Roosevelt declared would live in infamy. Do you remember why? Early that morning the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by air forces of Japan and suddenly America found itself embroiled in two global wars… the Nazi advance through Europe and the Japanese attempted advance through Asia. As you look at our world today, I wonder what you see?
I left you yesterday with Moses again in the cloud of God’s Presence on Mount Sinai. This was his seventh trip, but this one was different from all the others. This time Moses hiked up with fear and trembling, for the Hebrew people God had rescued and with whom God had made a Holy Covenant, had turned away from God and made a golden calf idol, calling it their god. Moses was up in the cloud this time as an intercessor, an advocate, seeking God’s pardon for 1 million people, who according to the Covenant laws they had agreed to keep, deserved to die for replacing God with a man made idol. Moses’ record for us is that he was in this place of repentant intercession for 40 days and nights with God. (Deut. 9:18-20,25-29) Have you ever done that my friends? Have you ever spent a sleepless night crying out to God on behalf of someone caught in the stranglehold of sin and evil?
Exodus 33:1 says: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… I will send an angel before you and drive out the [inhabitants in that land]…but I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” (Ex.33:1-3) Now ponder this dreadful statement for a moment my friends, what fear can you imagine it would awaken in Moses and the people? God had been with the people since the night He brought them out of Egypt leading them with a cloud over them by day and pillar of fire by night. God had repeatedly shown them His power and love for them by providing all they needed and protecting them from attack. So what do you suppose it would be like for them to leave Sinai, heading out into the desert WITHOUT God? May I ask… do you and I sometimes head out into our day without God? In fact has it been quite some time since you had a strong sense of the Presence of God with you in your life journey?
Evidently Moses hiked down the mountain trail and the people were anxiously awaiting him. As Moses reported to the people what God had said he recorded their response: “When the people heard these distressing words they began to mourn…” (Ex. 33:4) You know what it means to mourn don’t you? We mourn when death strikes someone we love. We mourn when bad decisions ruin lives. We mourn when relationships are fractured. Look around the camp of 1 million people mourning as they think about what it would mean to leave this great mountain where they have encountered God, heard His voice, experienced His provision and His Presence, only now to head out into the desert, leaving behind both the mountain and God!
But there is always hope, even a little ray of hope with God, isn’t there? The record says: “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp, some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting’. Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the ‘tent of meeting’ outside the camp. And wherever Moses went out to this tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrance to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses… The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” (Ex. 33:7-10) Seven times Moses had hiked up Sinai to meet with God in the cloud. Only once had he taken another person with him, Joshua. I see here the tender heart of Moses longing that the people would desire to meet with God and experience what he experienced up in that cloud. This is not the Tabernacle, which God had described to Moses and would later be constructed and placed in the center of the camp. This was a little tent, perhaps only large enough for one or two people. As far as I know it had no furnishings of any kind. It was simply a place of solitude where anyone could go and meet with God. May I ask… do you have a ‘tent of meeting’? Perhaps you’ve noticed that’s what I call this little room where I produce the “Walking with Jesus” each day for you my friends around the world.
Did you notice the cloud of God’s Presence, in which Moses met with God up high on Mount Sinai, also came down and encompassed this little tent when Moses entered it? And do you notice Moses recorded that he would meet with God in that tent the same way he met with God up the mountain, ‘face to face’? Now that does not mean Moses saw the face of God, for God is Spirit, but it does mean Moses heard God’s voice, and experienced God’s Holy Presence, as real as if Moses was talking face to face with a friend. May I ask, when you are in your little ‘tent of meeting’ and you are meeting with God, how powerful and real is it my friends? Do you have a strong sense of God’s Presence?? Do you consider Jesus your friend?
Do you also notice this little ‘tent of meeting’ was available to ANYONE wanting to meet with God? Interestingly I see no record that anyone else ever accepted Moses’ invitation and went out to that tent… no one except Joshua. Exodus 33:11 says: “Then Moses would return to the camp,[from the tent] but his young aide Joshua, son of Nun, did not leave the tent.” Now obviously that does not mean Joshua never left this tent. Rather it means that frequently Joshua accompanied Moses to the tent, and sometimes when Moses had finished his encounter with God, Joshua remained, lingering for a longer time with God in this ‘tent of meeting’! Why my friends? What does that tell us about young Joshua?
We linger somewhere when we are fascinated by what’s occurring there, don’t we? We linger with a person when we enjoy their presence, right? This tells me Joshua was developing a hunger for God’s Presence and a desire to have a relationship with God like the relationship he saw that Moses had with God! About 40 years into the future God selected Joshua to lead the people when Moses died and I believe that selection process is rooted right here in Joshua’s love for this little “tent of meeting”! Oh my friends how I long that you and I would develop such a hunger for time alone with God!
In fact I think we’ll pause right here… may I invite you to ponder some questions, as you sit and look at that little tent, with the cloud hovering over it, and Moses inside meeting with God, while Joshua waits outside the tent for his turn?
1. Do you have a special place where you meet with God for those special, deeper life conversations?
Where is it? Why is it so special to you? When was the last time you were there?
2. Do you have a hunger for times of personal solitude with God?
Is your hunger for this greater today than one year ago? What do you find awakens this hunger in you… tragedy, deep life questions, fear, worry, or simply a great love to spend time with Almighty, Holy God whom you love?
3. What happens in your life when you enter your little ‘tent of meeting’ and spend time with God?
How does God speak with you there? With what attitudes do you speak with God? And when you leave your ‘tent of meeting’, what is your state of mind and heart?
I’ve found a song of reflection to help us ponder these questions and the example Moses and Joshua are for us. Oh worship my friends, in your little ‘tent of meeting’.
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 33:1-11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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