A city on the move…

I confess that in the past, as I read through the story of Moses and the Israelites, I’d not ever really considered the logistics of moving such a large group of humans. Maybe it’s wisdom, grown from my years of existence, that enables me to now ponder these things… or it could be that I live a life of hardship that brings such things to light. We still have no water, in case you’re at all wondering, as to my current state of mind.

While I was reading through chapter after chapter of the instructions God gave Moses, for the building of the Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, it hit me… wait a minute, are you saying that they had to build this and then carry it around the desert for 40 years? This girls says… RESPECT!!! I’m crying about my lack of running water… boo hoo! 

I think Mt. Sanai was like a sort of staging area, preparing the people for the journey that lie ahead. Had God simply drug these people through the desert, many would have either wandered off, or worse, perished! Once a head count of all the men over 20 years of age was taken, the bible says, in Exodus 38:26, there were 603,550 Israelites males, plus their wives and children. Now add in all of their livestock and personal belongings. 

If you know anything about camping or traveling, you know that there is an enormous difference between traveling with a blanket and snack bag… and camping with your family, ice chests, tents, firewood, clothes, blankets, bedding, coffee, first-aid kits, fishing poles, bait box, Capri Suns, Smores ingredients, roasting sticks, drinking water, bathing water, wet wipes… etc. You get the picture!

 In the past readings of Exodus, I will admit that I perused all these chapters, as there were a lot of measurements being issued… and I hate math! This time, however, I read through this section multiple times, just to grasp the enormity of the task that lay before the Israelites… to build a fully mobile Temple of God! I think the Israelite people constructed and built the Tabernacle from all that material the Egyptians gave them, as they departed. There was so much material available, brought forward by the people, Moses had to instruct them to please give NO MORE!

My mind was blown at the thought of how much stuff everyone was bringing along with them. Once I got over the initial mind blownery, I began to search within the verses for an accurate timeline of things getting done, or progressing, if you will. I began to understand, logically, why it took 40 years to get a million plus humans, to travel what would take most small families, just shy of two weeks to accomplish. No amount of wet wipes would be helping to speed this trip up! 

I know we all have either heard of, or have seen the movie Mortal Engines. In the movie, they made it seem so easy to just live a normal life, inside a larger machine that moves all your stuff from one location to the other… they didn’t even have to pack the house up when the city decided to move. 

The Israelites didn’t have any engines, nor was it so easy to live or travel with each other for 40 years. Healers would be found somewhere inside the masses, if you or a family member was ill, but I’m not sure who traveled to who, to receive medical care. The people had to carry ALL of their cooking supplies, along with the food for their livestock. If a woman went into labor, she had to do it on the road. If your family member passed away, you either wrapped and carried the body, or had to bury them somewhere along the way. There were no grocery stores or gas stations to let the kids out to stretch their legs… nope… just an attitude of suck it up, pack it up, and let’s do this!  

For the first time, in my studying of this part of the bible, I find myself pondering the perspective of more than just Moses. It’s always easier to point out insights from a place of comfort. Maybe the discomfort of my personal circumstances is working for me here… in a ridiculously modern viewpoint, I can somewhat feel their pain, regarding how things went down there! I’m a firm believer in God using everything in our lives to better us, as His children! You’ve heard me say it before, regarding the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly… God did, does and will use it for our good… all of it! I can say this because I’m living it! I’m fairly confident that some of you reading this, also are living it!

My take away from this bit… God had the people build and bring the Tabernacle with them, because He traveled with the people… he led them, every single day of those 40 years. We now live in the New Testament of times, where God is doing the same thing for us, but it is internal, rather than external. There is a great amount of restructuring that has to go on in the heart of a believer, as they choose to follow God. Some changes occur early on in our walk, while others may take 40 years to get there… before Christ lived and died for us, we had to follow the Tabernacle to stay near God. The road was paved by our creator so that the Tabernacle now lies within our being… it’s right there! 

I’m nothing more than a child of God, just like you are, sharing my thoughts with you like a brother or sister… I’m not a teacher, nor a theologian. I mentioned once before that I think of all of you as my Study Buddies. We look together into Biblical History Records, for lack of a better description, trying to find a better understanding of who we are in Christ. I can only share with you from my own circumstances and perspective, while you read from within your own situations in life. I love that diversity, as it keeps me from thinking I’ve got it all figured out… because I don’t!

I’m trying to keep a Godly attitude, while I flush my toilet with a bottle of water, wear the same pair of pajamas for over a week, and eat out of the microwave off of a paper plate with my fingers, as there is no clean anything in here… including silverware! My perspective and attitude can rapidly devolve into fight or flight mode, so staying in the word right now is of the utmost importance! The upside to things is the knowledge that we’ve been here before… and I didn’t die… so God’s Got This! If He faithfully carried a massive group of peoples through the desert for 40 years, why would I think He would let our RV’s lack of water supply end things now!

Generations have passed between the time of the Israelites and current civilization, but the heart of mankind is still the same today as it was back then… human! That is something I think we can all relate to, don’t you ?