Until Wednesday afternoon this past week, I really had no idea what God wanted us to focus on this morning, which is pretty rare. It doesn’t take but a few minutes around me to realize that normally I am planned and organized way in advance. When I gave out the Youth Ministry calendars in September, people were amazed that I had already planned a day hike for the CheckPoint kinds to take place in July 10, months down the road.
Needless to say, I was starting to panic a little bit early in the week because I felt like God was giving me the silent treatment, which really just meant, “Wait and I will tell you at the right time.” Well, that time came Wednesday afternoon in a pretty cool way. I was actually out walking my dog with Adam and we were talking about the 24-7 prayer room, the Youth Sunday coming up and how I had no idea what we were doing, and sort of debriefing a conversation we just had with some guys.
Between the mix of all of those things, God reminded me of this passage. In my head I just listened to God connect the dots and was thinking, “Alright, tent of meeting, being in God’s presence, God showing up, and Joshua having this heart to stay in the tent, kind of all makes sense.” So I turned to Adam and said, “I think I know what I am going to preach on now. God just reminded me of that passage where Moses builds the tent of meeting and Joshua doesn’t want to leave and all.” Adam quickly responds, “Yea, that’s Exodus 33:7-11.” I was kind of surprised that he knew the exact reference, since I didn’t even know what it was off the top of my head, so I kind of applauded him verbally. And Adam goes, “Nah, I just read it this morning in the prayer room. It was on the rock I pulled out of the well. That’s definitely what you are supposed to preach on.” So, here we are this morning.
What I didn’t realize at the time that is really interesting about looking at this passage towards the end of our week of prayer, is the fact that this is the first reference in the Bible, 83 chapters in, that talks about a meeting place, or for our sakes, a prayer room, being set up where people could go and meet God. Before this, we see God meeting people in a number of different ways wherever they happened to be at the time such as homes, mountain tops, the dessert, etcetera. I think there is something really special about having a space set aside to go and meet with God rather than just doing it wherever we are.
Listen to verse 7 again, “It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.”
I think it is so important to point out that this Tent of Meeting was set up “some distance from the camp.” Again, God can meet people anywhere they are and he does that regularly, but there is something special about a space that is set aside from the normal day to day things and dedicated to God as holy. One of the remarks I heard after someone had come up from an hour in prayer was how nice it was to not have the distractions of the house and family to compete for their attention. I think this is exactly why Moses set up the tent where he did because he wanted people to leave the distractions of life and the norm behind and enter into a space that they knew was for hanging out with God and nothing else.
Another important fact to point out is that this was where “everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord” would go. So it was a holy place, set aside for God but it was also a common place which put everyone on the same level with God. It wasn’t that only certain people could go or only the “good” people, but everyone. This also created an amazing opportunity for the people to minister to one another by sharing in this experience. Again, relating it to our prayer room, one of the most powerful things about it is walking in and seeing the art on the walls or the names on the Wailing Wall or reading the journal entries. Because it is a common place, it gives us the extra advantage of sharing our experiences with the people who come in after us through art, music, poetry, written prayers, and other forms of worship.
So, Moses sets up this tent of meeting, this prayer room, so that it was set apart, holy, and a common place for the people to experience God. Let’s read on in verse 8 to see what we can learn from this first prayer room. “Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand at the entrances to their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside.”
Moses led other people to God. Every time Moses would go to the tent everyone around would stand up and take notice. “What’s going on there,” they would ask. “What’s going to happen?” Then they would just stand…watching and waiting. The leader that Moses was, was not just about going to this holy space and doing the “right” things. That is important, but secondary. His leadership began before that by the way he lived his life on a daily basis. If he had not had a real relationship with God, then the people wouldn’t have cared when he went into the tent to begin with.
The question for us to wrestle with then is, “Where am I leading people?” I hate to break it to you, but every single person sitting in this room is leading and influencing people around you somehow. We all have people in our lives that “stand up and watch” whether we realize it or not. We have our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, peers, bosses, neighbors and the list goes on and on. They are all watching at different points and taking notes, contrasting the way we live with what we say or believe. We are all leading someone and we need to be aware of that because God has called us to lead people to Him with our lives.
Taking a slight sidestep here, leading people to God doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. We all have struggles, temptations, sins, and troubles in our lives and being an example for God doesn’t mean we just ignore them or that they be “fixed.” Instead, often times when we are honest with ourselves and others about our struggles, temptations, sins, and troubles; it can sometimes be the best example and influence to those who are around us.
Picking up at verse 9, “As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud [which represented God’s presence] would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses.” This cloud that God used to show himself was visible to all the people as they stood outside their tents and watched Moses enter the tent.
It is so important in our lives as we lead people to Christ, to always step back and remember that we can only point in the right direction and be the best example we can be, but it takes God to actually open peoples eyes to Himself.
This is something that God actually promises to do! “Call to me and I will show you great and mighty things.” “Knock and the door will be opened to you.” “Ask and you will receive.” Sometimes he chooses to work right away, other times he chooses to wait to answer you, which can seem like He isn’t listening, and other times he will say no and choose to do something different. The fact remains, His will will be done and he will honor our prayers and leading to show Himself to others and move in their hearts. When this happens it will be the most glorious time in their life because of the God that we can know.
Verse 11a says, “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” The God that we can know is not described here as a distant God up in the sky, or not as some puppeteer controlling and dictating everything, but as a friend. Today, we all have an invitation to take part in a friendship with God like that because of the cross.
In the scriptures it tells us that we are all separated from God because of our sin and disobediences to Him. Because of that sin we are only deserving of death because we are rejecting God. But God, because he loves us so much, sent his son Jesus down to earth as a man to die the death that we deserved. Jesus took our place on the cross but then three days later, rose from the dead, not being able to even be bound or stopped by the grave. He now approaches God on our behalf, claiming that the blood sacrifice has been shed once and for all. This is what makes it possible for us to now approach God in a relationship. And let me tell you, there is no other relationship that even comes close to comparison in what we have available with our one and only God!
So, as we lead and are led to Christ and as God shows himself to us and reveals more and more of who he is, it leaves us with a choice; a choice to respond and move closer or to reject and stay where we are. In verse 10, we see that “When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents.” They choose to acknowledge God and who He was and move a little closer to Him. Then, the second half of verse 11 records Joshua’s response, and this is my favorite part of this passage. “Afterward, Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting.” Joshua didn’t want to leave! He set everything aside, changed his schedule and deemed there was nothing more important and just sat in God’s presence for as long as he could manage.
What is your response to God? As God shows you glimpses of Himself, whether it is a big glimpse or a small glimpse, how are you responding? Maybe you can take a small step like the people who bowed down at their tents because that is all you can manage at the moment. If that is all you can manage, don’t beat yourself up of feel bad because that is a glorious and amazing step of faith in the right direction. Maybe you can take a big step like Joshua did and throw off all of these other things and commit a huge part of your life to God. If you can, awesome! Or maybe you find yourself somewhere in the middle. Whatever response you can give, I encourage you to give it today!
Really, this brings us full circle from where we started with needing to lead people to Christ. Because whatever your response to God is, it ends up leading and pointing the way for others as they see the difference in your life, for better or for worse. Again, if that leading is towards Christ, He will honor that leading and show himself to the people around you which, then again, creates a response to God. Really it is a never ending cause and effect that God continues throughout the rest of our lives to move us closer to Him and to bring others along with us!
