As we learned from last week, the
Israelites moved when God's cloud lifted up from the Tabernacle and
they camped when God's cloud stopped and rested on the Tabernacle.
They followed God's perfect leading. But when I read this something
struck me and that was the order by which the Israelites were
instructed to move. They didn't simply jump up and move in
whichever bundle they wanted to, no, God gave them a very specific
order in which to move in.
Each tribe moved together with
their banner and their leader in front. And each tribe moved in a
specific order too. First of all Judah, then Issachar and then
Zebulun moved out. Then the Tabernacle was taken down, then the
Gershonites and Merarites (divisions of the Levites) were next in
line in the march, carrying the Tabernacle with them. Then the
tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Gad moved
out. Next the Kohathite division of the Levites moved out, carrying
the sacred objects of the Tabernacle. Then the tribes of Ephraim,
Manasseh and Benjamin moved out. And last of all the tribes of Dan,
Asher and Naphtali. So as you can see, they moved out in an orderly
fashion and not as they deemed fit.
Why did they move out in this
manner? Well, to make the organization of these two million people
easier, but more importantly, because God is a God of order and not
of chaos. We can see that right through the Bible. We serve a God
of order. You can clearly see it in the way everything was created.
God could have created everything in a split second if He wanted
to. He didn't have to create everything over six days. But He did,
why? I think one of the main reasons is because He is a God of
order and He wanted to give us structure in our daily living by
providing a model of a seven day week for us. He didn't have to
create time, days, weeks, months and years, but He wanted to. He
wanted to give order to His creation.
And due to this Paul warns us of
disorder in the church in 1 Corinthians 14:26 - 33. He warns the
Corinthians not to flaunt their new spiritual gifts and let chaos
reign in the church as each person wants to show off what they have
heard from the Lord. He asks them for order, because when there is
order in the church, everyone can learn from one another. There is
a time for everything and each has to wait his turn.
'For God is not a God of disorder,
but of peace, as in all the other churches.' 1 Corinthians
14:33
And also in our lives God works in
order. He has an order and a plan that He wants to work out in your
life. He is not going to barge in and take over, no He is a
gentleman, and He wants to work through order. And if your life is
chaos and you are scattered all over the place, maybe you should
sit down and order your life a bit. I am not saying you should
become a perfectionist, but try and focus your thoughts and focus
your energies on what God wants you to do. You are part of His
orderly Body and you will function best if you are orderly too. It
is so easy to become scattered minded and to run around and try to
do a thousand things at a time, but that is not how God works. He
wants you to focus so that He can lead you step by step and show
you where He wants you to go.
Father, we are so glad that You are
orderly and that You plan everything in the finest detail. That
gives us so much peace. Help us to fall into what You plan for us,
so that we can have peace and joy, knowing that we are doing Your
will. In Jesus' Name. Amen