Bugs

"Bugs," they said.

 "What?"

 "Bugs. That's what I think of when I think of camping."

Tonight our small group looked at Exodus 19, at what happened at the base of Mount Sinai as the people prepared themselves, and were prepared by Moses, to hear the word of the Lord.

¹ In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on the very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. ² After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. 

As we were making observations and digging into the passage, I asked people to share what they thought of when they thought of "camping." Immediately two women, at exactly the same time, said,

"Bugs."

I laughed, because of the awesome "jinx" moment, and because that was not what I had thought of at all.  It was certainly true though, and the more I chewed on it, the more I realized just how appropriate it was. 

When the Israelites are camping at the base of Mount Sinai they are further away from Canaan, in a literal physical distance sense, than they have ever been.  They are not anywhere near the land of milk and honey, but they are camping in the wilderness. They are setting up a "home" in the place that is furthest from where they want to be.  God called them to stop there, and that is UNCOMFORTABLE, in a mosquito biting, ant crawling, giant unidentified bug crawling up your leg kind of way sometimes. Sometimes, it is uncomfortable in a lay you out flat on your back in pain kind of way. For me, it is always uncomfortable in a "Really, God?!" kind of way, because I struggle with an Eve-like pride- with thinking that I know better than God, and that He is holding out on me and doesn't have my good in mind. It is uncomfortable for me as I read about it in the lives of the Israelites in Exodus, and even more uncomfortable for me as I apply it to my own life. I see that He sometimes calls me to stop and camp in the times of my life that are uncomfortable and far from where I want to be, far from where I feel He ultimately wants me.  

The Israelites are camped there, and though it is far from where they want to be and far from their "ultimate" destination, the Lord has something to show them, to say to them, and to be to them- Himself.

It is a struggle to be obedient and set up camp and "settle in" to the buggy, uncomfortable reality of the wilderness- but I can't wait to see what He has for me, what He will tell me, and what He will do in me "this very day."