LET’S GO CAMPING by Larry W Peebles June 12, 2020 20.21
When it came to going hunting, fishing, or camping, my Dad never had to ask me twice. I enjoyed them all. There’s something about time spent on the water, in the woods, or sitting around a campfire. Maybe it was the opportunity to be with Dad. The time spent in nature is so awe inspiring. Being alone with your own thoughts while staring into a campfire at night is so mesmerizing, triggering great peace and reflection.
The love for this never left me. After my wife and I married, and while the kids were still young, we camped as a family. Our favorite was the mountain lakes of northern Arkansas, where we not only camped, but we also water skied. The water was still, deep and clear. Our camping area had a huge central bath with plenty of hot water for a shower. The boat could be anchored on a sandy beach close to our campsite. My wife became an accomplished cook on a portable camp stove, but a waterfront restaurant was close by for those evenings when a full day of water skiing left us too tired to prepare dinner. The home cooking at the restaurant was outstanding, especially the home-made pies. With a little advance notice, the restaurant would prepare the pie of our choice. These were like five-star accommodations.
I remember many nights camping with Dad where we fished all night, napping only occasionally on a blanket on a gravel bar in the river with a fire to provide a little light and warmth. One night I heard the scream of a panther. I moved closer to the fire, unable to sleep the rest of the night. Truthfully, all that was more enjoyable when I was younger, but my need for better sleeping conditions grew as I grew older.
We live today in the forest on a mountain. Our home is modern with many conveniences, but the surrounding atmosphere of the woods takes me back to those days of camping. The impressions never left me; indeed they changed me. I had no reservations when we left the city and moved to the mountains. In one sense I had come home.
God wanted to bring the descendants of Abraham back home. He had promised Abraham that the land where he walked (put his foot) would be his and his descendants (Genesis 12). Abraham lived out his life on that land, as did his son Isaac. Isaac’s son Jacob lived most of his life on that same land God had promised him. However, later in his life, after he had twelve sons, a drought came that forced him to send his sons to Egypt for food. One son, Joseph, was already in Egypt, having been sold by his brothers into slavery (Genesis 37). Jacob did not know this. Nor did he know that Joseph had risen to power second only to Pharaoh because God’s favor was on his life (Genesis 41). When Joseph’s ten older brothers came to Egypt looking to buy food in the drought, Joseph was the one who sold them the grain. He was able to get them to bring back his younger brother Benjamin. Joseph forgave, and the brothers were reconciled.
Eventually Jacob and the whole family came to Egypt, and they stayed for good. They chose to live in the land where Pharaoh blessed them with food rather than stay in the land God had given them and trust Him for food. Nevertheless, God prospered them and they multiplied. Unfortunately, they stayed too long.
In Exodus Chapter 1, we read that as a people, they grew to number in the millions, and their herds multiplied. But they became like the people “of Egypt” who worshipped idols and took on the culture and practices of Egypt. They were largely unrecognizable as the people of God. One day, a new Pharaoh suddenly realized they were a threat to Egypt because of their number. He ordered the new born males be killed by the Egyptian midwives, and the people were made their slaves. They remained slaves in Egypt for over four hundred years. What seemed to be an easy and logical solution during a drought ended up being their downfall. God was not surprised by all of this. He had told Abraham in advance they would be slaves for four hundred years, and afterward they would “come out with great possessions” (Genesis 15:13-14). They would one day return back to the land God had given Abraham.
When the time had come, God heard the cries of the children of Jacob (Israel), and appointed a man named Moses to set his people free (Exodus 3). God sent great signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh to release the slaves. These came in the form of ten plagues; the last ironically resulted in the death of all the first born of Egypt (Exodus 7-12). Pharaoh relented, and let the people go. The Egyptians were so glad to see them go they sent them out with great wealth. However, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued the Israelites with his army and chariots. God handed the children of Israel the final victory when Pharaoh and his armies were annihilated when attempting to cross the Red Sea in pursuit (Exodus 14).
Over two million people who had been slaves for generations were suddenly released into freedom. They were out of Egypt, but God had to get Egypt out of them. The idol worship, customs and practices they had melded into their culture had to be removed. They had to learn to fight for themselves, feed themselves, and govern themselves. Most importantly, they had to re-acquaint themselves with God, and begin to trust and worship Him.
The Lord began to solve the problem by taking them camping—for forty years they walked and camped. He led them in the wilderness by a cloud during the day (for shade), and a fire at night for light and warmth. If the cloud or fire moved, they learned to break camp and move out. If the cloud and fire stayed, they remained camped. The cloud and the fire were the manifest Presence of God continually with them. They learned to live/stay in the Presence. They were given the opportunity to go camping with their Dad-their Heavenly Father. The Bible says the fire was always in front of them, except when the Egyptian army drew close at the Red Sea. At that time, the fire moved to the rear of the march to guard against the Egyptian advance.
There was nothing to fear. They literally camped around the Presence of God, and slept with the night light on. The sounds in the night did not disturb them. God protected them, and He showed them the way. They no longer followed the orders of the slave-master. They followed the cloud and fire of God.
He weaned them off Egyptian food quickly. When they became hungry, He provided heavenly food in the form of manna. The manna bread pointed to Jesus, as explained in John 6:48-50- “I [Jesus] am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.” When they were thirsty, He gave them water from the rock (The Rock, Jesus, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:4- “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”) Their clothes did not wear out, and there was none sick among them. They learned to fight, and God gave them victory after victory. Forty years later, the camping trip ended as it began. God parted the Jordan River so a new generation, born in the wilderness and raised in the Presence of God, could walk back into the land God gave Abraham. The exodus was over; they were home in a land “flowing with milk and honey”.
They had learned much, but the transformation was not complete. Moses, their leader during the exodus, had given them an example of living in the Presence of God. He pitched his tent outside the main camp, invited the Presence of God to come into his tent, and sat and talked to God “as a man talks to his friend” (Exodus 33). His tent was known as “the tent of meeting.” Joshua, the young man who later took Moses’ place, stayed outside Moses’ tent while God’s Presence remained. He would eventually take the people across the Jordan River, and lead them in defeating 31 kings to occupy the land. Before the battle, God (Jesus) came to Joshua and identified Himself as Commander of the Armies of the Lord (Joshua 5:14). Joshua recognized Him because of the time he had camped in His Presence. The Armies of the Lord fought for Israel and handed the victories to Joshua and the Israelites. The precedent was set; the example was established. Though the cloud and the fire lifted, the people, and each ruler after Moses and Joshua, were to live in God’s Presence.
Today we too can still find the Presence of God when we find Jesus. He is still our cloud (protection), fire (light and comfort), bread of life, and the source for our living water of the Holy Spirit (see John 7:38-39). The Israelites were slaves to Egypt. We were born into sin and are slaves to sin until freed. Romans 3:23 says- “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It is Jesus who sets set the captive free. Luke 4:8 says- “He sets at liberty those who are oppressed [by the devil].” We can be forgiven, and live freely as a child of God. Galatians 3:26- “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” We are then no longer slaves to sin. John 8:36- “He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”
My prayer is that we will all come to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Our sins will be forgiven. We will then spend our days camped in His Presence. A camping trip with God changes everything.
