Numbers 9:1-23

👉 In the Wilderness

• the Lord spoke
• the people worshiped

The Lord is in the wilderness with His people. The enemy will attempt to make you feel alone but your God is right there. And he is speaking.

👉 Certain men came to Moses with concerns regarding permission to participate in Passover.

They were unclean but desired to take part in worship. This may seem like not a big deal. Moses’ could have said, “I’m sure it’s fine.” Or, perhaps, “Nope, unclean is unclean. Away with you.”

But Moses knew that how a person approached God was a huge deal. So his response was:

“Wait.”

“I need to hear what the Lord says about this.”

This spoke volumes to me. Here are some things that the Lord revealed to me through Moses’ response.

• Moses did not know the answer to their question. We are not going to have all the answers to the hard questions.
• Moses – though he spoke face to face with God daily – did not presume to speak for the Lord.
• Moses was not impulsive in his response. We don’t need to be flippant with people’s concerns.
• It’s okay to not have an “instant answer.”
• Moses paused and prayed before he answered.
• Moses didn’t give his own response, what he thought, or what he would do in their place. He wanted to know what God commanded regarding the issue.

👉 God’s Answer

• the unclean and the out of town could observe Passover the next month – like picture make up day at school 😃
• BUT (I love that he included this even though no one asked – it’s like he knew it would be an issue) – anyone who is present at camp and able to worship but chooses not to…cut off and left to bear their sin. That’s bad.

👉 When to Move – When to Stay

The people only moved when God moved. They only stayed put when God stayed put.

“Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time…”

It can feel like time stops when we’re in the wilderness. We want to just get out – not set up camp there. But the people learned to keep an eye on the Lord. They had to be focused on him to know when he moved and when he didn’t.

If you’re in the wilderness – keep watching. Keep waiting. Keep worshiping. Don’t waste the wilderness.