the Third Week after Easter
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Numbers 9:15-23; Numbers 10:1-10
Israel had no decisions to take as to the stages of their wilderness journey. Each departure and each stop took place "at the commandment of the LORD". Was the cloud taken up? They must set out even if they had just arrived, and even if they were in a pleasant place. Did the cloud rest over the tabernacle? They must pitch their tents without going further. Could they perhaps do without this divine direction for one single day? Absolutely not! It was equally indispensable for a few as for many days, to pitch camp or to strike it, for night as for day. This is a clear type of the continuous dependence which becomes the redeemed of the Lord and which He Himself perfectly displayed.
When the LORD’S will was revealed, the priests’ silver trumpets gave the signal for the various movements of the people. They sounded for assembly (vv. 3, 4), for going forward (vv. 5, 6), for going to war (v. 9) and for days of gladness (v. 10). These trumpets speak to us of the witness of God, rendered in the assembly of the saints, in their walk, in their conflicts, in their worship. In the midst of a hostile world, the charge is "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Timothy 1:8).
