Keep In Step

by Josh Baker

When I was young I remember playing the game “Simon Says.” The premise of the game is pretty simple. You have someone who gives a set of instructions which everyone else is to follow, but only if the instruction is preceded by the words “Simon Says.” If someone moves or does anything other than what Simon says they are out of step and out of the game.

In the 9th chapter of the book of numbers, there is a verse that caught my attention as I was reading through it devotionally. The twenty-third verse of Numbers chapter nine reads: “At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.”

The Jews here literally were guided by God. In the preceding verses, we see that when the Lord's presence was in the camp they did not move. The Lord's presence is shown here as a cloud resting over the Tabernacle. When the cloud was over the tabernacle they would not move but would remain where they were, in the presence of God. They would remain no matter how long the cloud was there. If this meant they waited from evening till morning (V21) they would wait. If the cloud was over the tabernacle for “two days, or a month, or a longer time” They would remain there until the Lord lifted up His cloud off the tabernacle.

We live in a society that cannot stand to wait, and we also cannot stand authority. We are a people that can find the information we so desire in an instant with just the flick of a finger or an “Ok, Google.” We love instant gratification and not only love it but almost expect it. Often we come to the Lord with our desires and wants and expectations and think that He ought to immediately sign off on them. But when we do this we must ask, Is this best for us?

When I accepted the call into ministry and began my journey by going to Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute (now College) I thought that when I graduated that the Lord would immediately place me in a position of ministry, I was expecting it. The problem with expectations is that when they are left unmet they lead to a sense of disappointment and disillusionment that could and often did lead to a lack of faith.

The problem wasn’t that the Lord didn’t sign off on my list of expectations, it was that my list of expectations didn’t align with God's best for me in His timing. I was trying to walk out of step with the Lord.

We do this all the time. Whether it be when we are trying to seek a new job, or when we are trying to figure out who to spend the rest of our life with. It is so easy to try to step ahead and do things in our own power or to stay a step behind in fear of what the Lord is calling us into. But the Lord desires for us, what He so desired for the Jews in Numbers chapter 9.

1. He desires us to spend time in His presence.

• In order for us to keep in step with the father, we must know Him and hear from Him through His word. We must seek to be consistent in our time with the Scriptures because in the Bible we see the commands of God, we see how He desires us to live and imitate Him.

1. He desires us to keep in step with Him.

• When the people of God spend time in the presence of God they can learn to obey the commands of God in the timing God desires. God does not desire us to walk ahead of Him and do things in our own power, nor does He desire us to walk a step behind Him in fear of what He’s calling us into. We are to be a people keeping in step with Him. As many pastors have said, being in the center of God’s Will is the safest place we can ever find ourselves, no matter what.

It is my prayer for myself and you that as we finish this first month of a new year and move further into 2021 that this 23rd verse of Numbers Chapter 9 will marinate deeply within us. That we will be a people marked by walking in step to the commands of God. Not ahead or behind, but right in step. When things seem to be moving slower than we want them to or faster than we want. May we know that the Lord is sovereign and is always working for His glory and our good. May we be a people who “At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out.” May we obey, consistently and continually the command of the Lord!

Borrowed with permission from A Sojourners' Journey.