Read Numbers 33
7- Beside the Red Sea – neither here nor there.
How interesting that barely a verse is given to this part of the journey, it’s not mentioned at all in Exodus. Somehow though, later on in the book of Numbers, Moses is prompted to include it in the itinerary. I wonder if it’s only with hindsight he realised that though there were no big signs and wonders, the real work of the Lord was done in those small insignificant looking stages of the journey.
The Israelites are to their feet again, leaving the lush Oasis of Elim, no doubt a wrench. The temptation of a place of sweetness is to stay put, but the still shallow but subtlety deepening trust growing their hearts meant that they did rise and pack, and they did set out again.
The encamping at the Red Sea would have served as a marshalling station. Do we have everyone? Let’s regather back into your groups. It’s easy to lose people in a herd, but in smaller groups we start to be seen, we start to become individuals, if we are lost or struggling we are missed or helped. An identity for each soul is being uncovered, more soft undoings of the wounds of slavery.
What’s happening in Moses?
Moses would have been preoccupied with the logistics of keeping this many people moving. His experience with sheep would serve him well here, but this was a much larger herd, a more wilful herd, a more vocal herd. I think he would have been unaware in his busyness and attentive watching over the people that his heart was once again being gently, imperceptibly expanded in love for his people. The training of his fathers heart was held tightly in the palm of the Fathers likeness he was being formed into. Trusting in the process would have been his own inner voice. “He knows what he’s about, He knows what he’s about” on repeat until he felt comfortable in the truth of it.
What’s happening in the Israelites?
The reluctance to leave Elim would have been felt if not spoken amongst the people as they packed their belongings and filled every last water skin. They had tasted the Lords goodness, a time of consolation but the journey now would be another that was long and hard. I think in the infancy of their relationship with Yahweh they would have overlooked the work being done in their hearts on this journey. Though the pillar of cloud or fire was miraculously still in front of them, this time would have felt that it served no other purpose other than to get them to the next place.
These journeys in between the eventful places were more than transitional in the geographical sense. They were transitional in the minds and characters of the Israelites. Each step contained in it an intentional acceptance of the will of God. A building of trust and hope. An expectation of provision. Whilst these may have all been weak and fragile changes, the lesson and transformation was coming in small but easily doable steps.
What are we learning about God?
Besides His physical presence in the pillar, God was very much in every step and detail of this journey with them. Whilst that might sound obvious, I wonder if each of them knew his increasing proximity in their decision for each step? They would have missed I’m sure the work he was doing in them. In His wisdom it has to be this way, this way we aren’t overwhelmed with the enormity of the work needing to be done in us, we don’t interfere and try to take charge of the schedule of it and we aren’t demoralised and dwell on the apparent impossibility. Whilst our minds are fixed on the horizon, the next thing, place, task, He works in the present moment, beautifully and imperceptibly until we are in such a place to look back and see how far we have come, and importantly that it was all through His grace.
What are we to learn from this?
A term often used for this kind of season is liminal space. A threshold, having left one place or state but not yet having arrived at another. It speaks of our whole earthly journey and to those shorter periods contained within it.
It can appear as just the space in between, nothing more, but in reality we are still on the journey, time is still moving whether we are static or not. Even standing still is a choice. Consider just one step, like the Israelites, each step is an intentional act of our will towards or away from God in our lives. It’s a small but significant submission, especially alongside every other small act of submission after and before it.
After an encounter with Jesus, each step takes us from who we were to who we are called to be, our fullness. Perhaps I’m making this sound way too glorious, as if perhaps we missed the illumination or the miracle taking place in this season. But that is the very point, it’s in the understated, the day to day, the perseverance and enormity of the one small step that the greatest work is done.
So it’s not an easy place to be, we can spend this season looking forward or back, because there’s some sense in seeking the comfort of familiar or the excitement and hope of the future. The here and now seems to offer little, it is the desert in the desert perhaps.
We are conditioned to think the destinations are the point of it all. I think the steps in between are the true journey, where the growth happens and the stops a mere respite, a much needed interruption.
What does this tell us about the spiritual Journey ?
Wouldn’t it be lovely to dwell always in the ease of Elim? How sweet is that place where our prayer and faith life is fed by accessible springs and low hanging fruit. I’ve often wondered if the pain of leaving these seasons makes having them worth it. They are, of course, and as soon as it appears another period of sweet and fulfilling prayer arrives on my horizon I grasp it hungrily with both hands. When I pass through it back out on to the journey, my desire for that delicious sweetness of intimacy with the Lord has increased and in this early stage it propels me forward in search of the next oasis. Often through tough landscapes.
Something else happens here in our souls, we can think this is too cruel and why can we not just remain. The withdrawal can feel like a rejection, like we must surely have offended the Lord that once again we are removed and left thirsting for Him. That ache brings us to search ourselves, what could we have done for him to become present but now so absent ? In what can feel like despair and helplessness we start to become aware of all the ways that we may have offended Him. There will be many, layer after layer of possibilities. Every one we will confess and vow to do better on, not yet realising He is working on this all the while. For the real transformation to begin we need humility and self-awareness and here is where the seed of it is planted.
The in-between spaces are also the elementary classes in how to love. To remain in the spiritual consolation of Eden would leave us like a spoilt child. Cupboard love isn’t really love at all, the Lord is teaching us, so so gently to love the giver not the gifts. He doesn’t need us to love Him for His own sake but for the change it makes in us.
There are no permanent dwellings for us in Elim, like the palms it won’t develop the deeper roots needed for our faith. It serves a purpose, but it isn’t home. We won’t recognise or reach our real home without the small steps in between as each contains infinite blessings and gifts.
I’m hoping your stays at the Hotel Elim are put into perspective now. Imagine the loss if you didn’t continue the journey onward? Shallow rooted and in time losing sight of the Lord as you refuse to follow Him. I think the glow and beauty of your surroundings would lose their appeal without the one who brings the glory to it.
