Remembering the Camp

Num 2:18-32         10/12/2017

The entire nation of Israel was encamped together.

As I write this Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, is coming to its annual close.

It is interesting that the feast was instituted before the children of Israel roamed for forty years. In fact, the intended plan was that this “living in temporary booths” arrangement should only last a short time.

But then came the failure to enter into the land – to believe and trust God. Though the children of Israel had been made numerous and powerful, and even despite that they daily experienced the remarkable and miraculous power of God’s presence dwelling with them, they feared.

Their fear kept them from God’s best.

Booths… Temporary dwellings… God’s faithfulness in taking them out of Egypt… Forty years of wandering. The good and the unfortunate are bound together in memory.

As a community, the children of Israel mark this occasion even today. A reminder of what was and what could have been.

What are we doing here?

I am afraid…But I also want God’s best.

Will the memory empower me?

“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it” Phil 1:6