Prayer: Father, imagine, You give the orders and I follow, or even fall into place. Amen.
Reading: Numbers 2 key: vs. 1-3a
Adonai said to Moses and Aaron saying, “ 2 Let each man encamp under his own standard among the banners of their ancestral house at an appropriate distance around the Tent of Meeting. 3 Those camping on the east—toward the sunrise—will be of the standard of Judah
Attention: Are you directionally challenged? When I read today’s scheduled reading, I pictured a Hebrew who didn’t know east from west, north from south.
When I was in my mid-twenties, I moved to Southern California to attend college. I have lived for eighteen of those twenty-five years in the Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington area. Most of the streets I grew up around ran east/west or north/south. In Seattle we had just a few freeways, I-5, I-90, & 405. Again, those freeways ran north/south or east/west and from many places, one can see the Cascade Mountains to use a physical marker.
In Southern California, the freeways and roads do not run a true north/south, or east/west and I could see the ocean or the mountains. For most of the first year, I was consistently selecting the opposite direction. I was disoriented until I figured out all I needed to do was to learn the freeway grid. If I knew how the freeways system worked, I would always be able to determine where I was and which way I was going.
Adonai gives Moses specific camping and marching directions with a specific marker or reference point. He told Moses, “Those camping to the east—toward the sunrise (vs. 3), will be of the standard of Judah.” It is hard to miss the “sunrise” as a reference point. The most eastern campers were the tribe of Judah. Those in the middle, surrounding the Tent of Meeting were the Levites.
Isn’t it interesting that the formation, the configuration of the entire encampment formed a cross? If one had a drone back in those days or if you draw out the placement of the entire encampment, you would see a cross formed and Adonai was in the center.
Even today, keeping our eyes on the Son first thing in the morning and keeping our attention on Adonai in the center of our lives is a worthy objective.
Action: I choose to give Adonai the first fruits of my day.
Yield: Giving Adonai all my heart, all my mind, all my soul.
Engage: Adonai is the source of my life.
Relationship: I choose to walk with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, may I always keep You in the center of my life. Amen.
Memory Verse: Isaiah 26:3
3 You keep in perfect peace
one whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.
Music Video: Israel Houghton & New Breed—Jesus At The Center https://youtu.be/XQspvrTBd6E
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”