Devos for Feb 17th (By Pastor Brandon)

“Calling my Name in the Wilderness”

Numbers 1, 2 and Acts 23-28

Numbers 1:1: “Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness…”
Number 1:5: “These are the names of the men who shall stand with you…”
Acts 23:11: “But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome’”

God speaks to us in or ‘wilderness’. Moses was wandering around the wilderness with over a million rebellious, complaining, stubborn people. I’m sure Moses could have thought of 100 other places he would rather be than with those people; especially with them in the wilderness. Paul was in the wilderness of incarceration as an innocent man. Like Moses, I’m sure Paul could have drummed up a list of “100 other places I’d rather be than in jail, falsely accused, with angry mobs trying to tear me apart.”

God called Moses by name, He called Aaron by name and in the devotional reading today he called those who would stand with Moses and Aaron in leadership and war… all by name. God had the Israelites take a census of the people. They did this by calling out which family they belonged to and listed the names in their lineage. Why? So they could take courage in numbers or a strong army? No, it was about answering the question “Who are God’s People”. Especially those warriors who would stand with Moses. It was about identity. What about Paul? God called him by name in Acts 9. Why? It was about Identity.

Maybe our ‘wilderness’ is the struggle with an addiction, a bad relationship with parents, a mistake with my boyfriend/girlfriend, or persecution for my belief in Christ. Maybe depression, cutting, or deep hurt caused by a friend. It’s in these times we can feel distant from God, like maybe He has left, doesn’t care or has better things to do.

But its precisely in the ‘wilderness’ we need to remember who we belong to, and that Jesus desires to call us by name, speak to us and provide direction that will lead us out of the wilderness we’re in.