Organization of the Camp

Scripture Reading: Numbers 1:1-54, Numbers 2:1-34, Exodus 29:45-46, Revelation 21:9-22

The maps of our lives rarely look the way we expect them to. I talked to my friend Sissy about this recently as we sat together in the She Reads Truth podcast studio, acknowledging the aches and uncertainties of being human. A counselor with over thirty years experience ministering to families, Sissy described an exercise where she asks kids to make a timeline of their life so far, drawing mountains and valleys to represent the happy and hard things they’ve walked through. It’s sobering to realize that even young children have painful events and difficult seasons that they can look back on and name.

When I consider what a map of my life might look like, there are detours and dark places, unexpected joys and mountaintop moments. There’s also an invisible thread that runs through it all—a thread I trust my own children will one day see. God’s character is constant, and His presence pursues me. 

The Old Testament book of Numbers is a kind of map. It is an account of Israel’s indirect journey from Mount Sinai to the Jordan River, the forty years between their rescue from Egypt and their arrival at the border of the promised land. Their wilderness wandering—a consequence of their disobedience—is testimony of God’s holiness. And it is a testimony of God’s faithfulness, the setting in which God demonstrates His unwavering commitment to His people by pursuing them with His presence. 

Numbers is a redemption story, but not just for the generation of Israelites who ate the manna and drank water from the rock. It is a redemption story for all nations and generations! Through the person and work of Jesus, we are all invited into the presence of the God whose holiness and compassion are like no other. Jesus Christ is the bread of life, the living water, the one whose perfect obedience redeems our wandering souls. 

Wherever you stand on the timeline of your life, I believe God will meet you here as we read His Word together. By the kindness and power of the Holy Spirit, may we come to understand more fully the beauty of obedience and the goodness of God’s grace. The Lord goes with us! Thanks be to Him.

Written by Amanda Bible Williams