November 18

Numbers 9:15-11:3, Luke 3:1-22, Psalm 35:19-28

I probably couldn’t cope with that, not knowing when you are going to have to go and not knowing exactly for how long. If we are going to go on a journey, I like to know how long it will take, what time we are going to leave and all the details. But for the people of Israel, they didn’t have any of that. They left when God said they were going to leave and they stopped when God told them to stop. Now that is trust!

It is not just a small amount of trust, this is deep whole life trust. There is that example that nearly every training course and a lot of preachers have used where you lean back and someone has to catch you. An example of trust. But this goes much deeper. The people could have been camping for a year or more or they could have just been on an overnight stop. Because of my need to know what is happening, I find this unimaginable, to put up my tent not knowing whether I will be there for a night or a year blows the mind. Do I unpack everything or just tomorrow’s undies.

And what about if the cloud lifts at 7 in the morning, you might have to get up and take the tent down before breakfast or a shower. Now that is a bit on the tough side. And that is trust at the deepest level. Psalm 139 talks about “knowing when I sit down and when I get up” and these verses take that to another level. You know when I sit down and get up so I won’t worry about it, I’ll leave the timing to you Lord.

And what is more, it is devotion. Because even for a one night stop, they will have set the Tabernacle up with all the trimmings. And that is what John was trying to bring people back to. Focusing on God because of a love for God and not because of the letter of the law. At some point the people stopped setting the Tabernacle up because of their devotion but because of the law, because of habit. And in the Gospel John is trying to call them back. Just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, John proclaims that Jesus will baptise with the Spirit, that we too can be filled with the Spirit and live lives marked by devotion.

Open yourselves to the anointing of the Spirit, that all you do may be done for devotion.