Don’t leave the tent

In Exodus 33, we find that Moses set up a tent outside of the Hebrew camp where anyone who wanted to could go inquire of the Lord. It was outside of the camp—away from all the hustle and bustle of daily life. A place to quiet down and sit down with God for a while.

It’s amazing to me that we are hard pressed to find someone other than Moses and Joshua that the Bible says used that tent.

Verse 11 says, “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent”.

So, here are a couple of things I wonder:

1. I wonder if others used tent if they may have had the same opportunity to speak to God as Moses did? And it makes me wonder if we might be missing out on a face-to-face encounter with God because we are not willing to “leave the camp” to spend time in His presence.

2. I wonder if Joshua would have had any idea that he would later become the leader of Israel? And my answer is, I don’t think so.

Moses’ young aid probably had no thought that he would ‘climb the ladder’. He was a young aid. How many administrative assistants to the CEO ever navigate the pathway to become the next CEO?

No, I think that Joshua was a faithful servant of Moses, and that he loved to be in the presence of the Lord. He didn’t leave the tent. His future was much less important to him than the reality of being in the presence of God and faithfully serving his assignment.

3. So that makes me wonder: If we were faithful to serve in our present assignment (no matter how small it seemed) and we were tenacious to not leave the tent (the presence of the Lord) what kind of responsibility and impact would God release to us?

Should I chase impact and responsibility or should I chase faithfulness and God’s presence?

I think the answer should be a no-brainer!