Desert Companion

In the desert God has brought me to the tent of meeting (Exodus 33).  In the midst of the desert where my heart has felt dry – empty – even here His hand has guided me.  His right hand is holding me. 

“Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.”  Exodus 33:12-13

God knows me by name.  He created me and knows everything about me.  When I sit or when I rise, before a word is on my tongue. There is nothing about me that God does not fully know.

On the dark days when His presence seems far away…

“It is in the  dark that God is passing by … because God has  tucked me in a  cleft of the rock  and covered me, protected me with His hand …”   Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

This is what I have always known to be true and it has been affirmed in my life.  That there are “treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places.”  In this desert we walk back to this truth…the treasures and riches are so that I can say, I know that you are Lord, the God of Israel, who summons me by name. 

Moses would go into the tent of meeting, the Lord would speak to him and after Moses would return to camp.  BUT his young aid Joshua did not leave the tent.  I join Joshua here and I don’t want to leave because the Father, Jesus, the Spirit, and I are becoming companions.  Here in the desert where God has lead me, to our tent of meeting, I stop and make space for God.  I listen…

“…every moment is a message from The Word – God – who can’t stop writing His heart.”  Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

Daily I wake up hungry, daily He gives me manna and water.  My heart is consumed with a desire to KNOW – to SEE GOD – who knows me by name.  We are sitting at the kitchen table, two youngest and I, surrounded by Bible, journal, school books, coffee, and biscuits. 

“Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”  Exodus 40:34