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\u201cThen the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with [Moses] and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, \u2018The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.\u2019 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.\u201d (Exodus 34:5-8)

Sad to say, but summertime is drawing near its end already. \xa0Is summer in some ways like a wilderness? \xa0Not for the most part, but in a few respects it is, and not just because of the heat! \xa0We also tend to scatter, slow down and change our rhythms and habits over the summer. \xa0We withdraw from some of grind that marks the cooler months of the year. \xa0And so, in this late-August moment as the seasons come near to changing, it\u2019s good to think of some wilderness questions for our faith.
It was in the wilderness where the Lord revealed Himself most fully to Israel and first proclaimed His name to them. This is where the people of God really got to know their God: being stuck in the wilderness with nothing but themselves and God for forty long years.

Now there were a few things God equipped His people with in these early chapters of their desert pilgrimage for that journey of getting to know and trust Him. He gave them the means to survive through provision (manna and water from the rock) and security (the defeat of the Amalekites through faith in God). Then God gave the law (ethical shape of life), the tabernacle (liturgical shape of life), and invited them into rhythms of meaningful work and Sabbath rest (creational shape of life).

Lastly, as the covenant is restored following the golden calf incident, God also affirms the gift of His presence with His people\u2014the most necessary ingredient of all for their life and living. And as the book of Exodus closes, that presence is embodied in the cloud that fills the tabernacle with the glory of the Lord. God, their God, was indeed with them. Anytime of the day or night they could steal a glance toward the tabernacle and be assured: God was still home\u2014right there in the middle of the camp, tenting it with His people out in the wilderness.

For forty years they walked this journey of wilderness pilgrimage, learning by those long years of repetition to trust all God\u2019s gifts of grace. Along that journey, they would unlearn how to be slaves and they would learn for the first time how to truly be free: following and living in the provision and presence of the God who was compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

So the questions: what have you been learning about God through these summer months? What are the graces God is giving to you? What are the shapes for life\u2014the habits & practices\u2014he might be calling you into this Fall so that your attention and trust can be better trained on him? Where is he calling you to trust more fully in Him? \xa0Take some time to reflect on those questions today.

May God continue to tent it with you in the wilderness as he accomplishes his purposes in your life and in the lives of all His people.\xa0

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