GET LOST!

Introduction

We are continuing our year long series through the entire Bible, called 365.

Setting the Scene

The Book of Numbers is an amazing account, but you may not realize that by the name. Unless you are an accountant, you’ve probably had no interest in reading this book. And that’s fair. Over half of the book is two censuses, one at the beginning and one at the end. That’s where the name comes from, actually—the numbers of Israelite men readied to take the land of Canaan that YHWH had promised them. I think the Hebrew name, Bemidbar, is more compelling. That title, translated ‘In the Wilderness,’ tells us this book is about far more than just counting people.

Numbers picks up one month after Exodus ends. YHWH draws near to an enslaved and hurting people, and he miraculous rescues them from the most powerful empire the world had ever seen, without fighting a single battle. He leaves no doubt in Pharaoh’s mind and in the minds of Israel that YHWH the God over all other gods, and you don’t mess with his people. YHWH takes the Israelite people out of Egypt and leads them to a mountain called Sinai, where he shares his glory, he establishes his good laws, and he makes a commitment, that he will be Israel’s God, forever, and they will be his people, forever.

Israel left Egypt as a collective of individual families. They leave Sinai as a nation. One people, united by their God, made one by their redemption.

And this begins their journey with God and one another to a land that God has promised them, and land flowing with milk and honey, a beautiful space to dwell and grow and enjoy. But Numbers, or Bemidbar, is not a story about the destination. It is a story about the Journey. A long, refining, transformational journey of God’s people learning to trust him with everything they are and everything they have.

The Liminal Space

Numbers is about the in-between space, between what we know and where we must go. Nobody likes to talk about this in-between, because these are not stories of human success, but failure. The missiologist Alan Hirsch calls these seasons of our lives “Liminal Spaces,” Liminal meaning threshold, like a doorway. Nobody stands in the doorway between where they’ve been and where they are going, and yet here, the Bible gives us an entire book about it!

The doorway is an important concept though, because powerful things can happen there. What looks like a small step may actually feel like a giant leap, to quote Neil Armstrong. Moving through liminal space requires we leave what is safe to venture boldly into the unknown. And while we often remember the first heralded step out and the last celebrated step in, what we tend to forget is that often the steps between are littered with failure, with wrong footed mistakes, with uncertainty and struggle. It is in these seasons that we lose a lot. We lose ego, we lose old identity markers, we lose comfort, we lose independence. And along the way, we gain a lot. We gain humility, we gain wisdom, we gain community, we gain healing, we gain new identity.

In the Bible, this threshold is called the wilderness. You might think the wilderness is something to avoid. And yet here and in other places throughout Scripture we find the people of God voluntarily trekking through it, drawn into these barren spaces by God, and inevitably changed when they come out on the other side.

Moses encounters God at the burning bush (Exodus 3).

Elijah flees and hears God’s whisper (1 Kings 19).

John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus (Matthew 3).

Jesus is tested before His ministry (Matthew 4).

The Church is preserved in tribulation (Revelation 12).

Why does God keep using the wilderness? Because it is in this liminal space, in this glorious, sacred in-between, where God teaches dependence, reveals His presence, and prepares His people for what’s ahead.

The wilderness is a sacred space is where God forms His people, where faith is tested, and where trust is learned.

Just like Israel, we two live between the times—between redemption accomplished and redemption completed.

Maybe you’ve come today feeling like you are in-between something. A friendship, a career, a life-stage (yes, adolescence is a liminal space!). Maybe you want to be sold out for Jesus, ready to do great things for him, but he’s got you sitting and waiting and working through the mundane, and it’s a real struggle. Maybe you’re in a spiritual wilderness, and you’re not even sure where you are going, or if God is anywhere to be found.

But, and here’s the big question for today: What if your struggles, delays, and hardships are not signs that God is absent—but proof that He is at work?

Andrews Arndt: The wasteland need not conquer us. It can become a place of deepening, renewal, and vitality—if we have eyes to see it.

The wilderness is not wasted time—it’s preparation.

You may feel lost, but God is leading you to something greater.

PRAY

Let’s look at Numbers 9:15-23, where we see how God directed His people every step of the way.

Sensing God’s Presence (Numbers 9:15-16)

Numbers 9:15–16 CSB

On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, appearing like fire at night.

As Israel journeyed through the wilderness, they were not left to wander aimlessly. YHHW provided a visible, tangible sign of His presence—a cloud by day and fire by night—that rested over the tabernacle and moved to signal when they should set out or stay. This was more than just guidance; it was a constant reminder that their journey was not about finding their own way, but about trusting the One who was leading them.

When the people move, God goes before them, making their way, forging their path, leading them to safety. When the people rest, God dwells right in their center, surrounded by all the tribes, in the heart of their very existence.

Israel has human leaders—Moses, Miriam, Aaron—but they are not the source of Israel’s courage and hope. It is the visible presence of their YHWH.

God does not guide from a distance—He leads from within.

He does not merely send Israel out on a journey—he walks with them, every step of the way.

Now, I’m sure you are probably thinking, that’s great and all, but I don’t see a fire cloud leading me through my sickness, or walking with me as I start my new school, or mediating this rough time in my marriage. It would be a lot easier if I knew God is really present with me, if he’s even there at all!

It’s true that you don’t see what theologians call theophanies, visible manifestations of God, floating around everywhere. I suppose that would be handy, wouldn’t it? I’ll admit it, there are times when I have struggled with seasons of missteps and pauses and reroutes that I’m about ready to shout out, whose driving this thing anyway? Our family moved to Sacramento in 2012 to help out with a church plant, only to take us out of it two years in. We moved back here in 2017 to pastor this church, and I foolishly spoke in my fourth sermon about how God was growing to make the church grow exponentially in short order just like the church in Acts chapter 2. Everybody in the room whooped and applauded. That didn’t age well. I feel like I have spent the majority of my life’s ministry in the wilderness, hoping for a glimpse of the promised land. And I confess, there are times that I wonder if God is in it.

But then I break my leg. And my church family brings us meals for a month straight. And brings us a new dryer when ours suddenly dies and I’m laid up and my wife is dealing with physical issues from her car accident months ago. And I get cards from our women’s group praying for us and encouraging our family.

No, God didn’t show up with cloud and fire. He showed up with you. He reminded me of his kindness and grace, of his patience and faithfulness, because our wilderness family moved near.

I once had a student ask me, how come God doesn’t just split the heavens open and shout to the world, I exist! Believe in me! And I told him, first, just because God reveals himself doesn’t mean people will trust him and walk in his ways. See pretty much every human in this book. See Jesus, who basically said the same thing, and was crucified. Second, who is to say that God doesn’t announce his presence to us all the time?

The question isn’t, will God show up, but will we notice when he does?

I believe that God uses wilderness seasons to prepare our hearts to sense his presence. We live in perhaps the most distracted age of all human history. At all times, there is unlimited access to artificial visions of the good life. I can pull out a device right now and experience adventure, romance, drama. I can build a soundtrack to my life with a thousand songs drowning out every silence. I can scroll and scroll and scroll beyond my heart’s content—in fact, I can never be satisfied as I consume curated versions of people’s lives on social media. Does God speak to me? Does he lead me? Does his show up? Absolutely. The Holy Spirit of God is present here and now, dead center in the middle of our community, more real and tangible than any cloud and fire. Israel wishes they had the presence of God like we do. Be we struggle to sense him, because we are so desensitized by our busyness, by our distractions, by the flashes of light and color and the throng of voices we invite into our consciousness out of boredom.

That’s why we need wilderness. We need a barren in-between to learn how to turn away from the distraction and to satisfy our hunger with nothing but the living God. It just so happens that this week marked the beginning of the lenten season, a time of spiritual preparation. It’s a period of fasting, of prayer, of mirroring the wilderness journey of Israel and of Jesus, as he prepared to take all of humanity out of slavery into sin, over the threshold of death, and into a new life together with him. It is a season where we are encouraged to pause our hurried existence, lean into our limits, and sense the presence of God walking with us even now.

I want you to spend some time in prayer this week. But I don’t want you to say anything. You don’t even need to listen, exactly. Just take some time to look at God, looking at you in love. Drawing near to you, looking on you with compassion and grace. He is doing that right now. Wilderness is about sensing God’s presence.

Trusting God’s Timing (Numbers 9:17-22)

Numbers 9:17–22 CSB

Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped. At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped. Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command. Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted. Whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out.

Sometimes they took days, somethings they took a month. They trusted God when to stay and when to move. The people had no control, no choice but to move when God moved, and stay when God stayed. We find as the story progresses that Israel wasn’t always a patient people. In fact, they complain incessantly (Chapter 11 is my favorite example of this).

But through it all, Israel learns to trust in God’s timing above their own.

God has a plan for your life. And it is the most good, glorious plan there is. His plan is to make you flourish with joy, with a spiritual wealth beyond measure, with eternal life and love. And it blows your plan out of the water, every time. It beats your greatest success story, it beats your timeline, it beats your wildest definition of the good life that you can dream up.

And you probably will not get it. Not yet. To rush God’s plans is to outpace the Holy Spirit and assume that your plan is the right plan, and God must get in line. And so God gives the gift of wilderness to sync our spirits with his, to set our pace, and to hone the sacred practice of waiting.

Abba Moses (Egyptian monk): The aim of our profession is the kingdom of God, but our point of reference, our objective, is a clean heart, without which it is impossible for anyone to reach our target.

The distance from Mount Sinai to Jericho is 240 miles. The journey should have taken two weeks on foot. But Israel does not need efficiency. They need heart change.

So God leads them through the wasteland—for forty years.

By the end of the journey, the people of Israel are a brand new generation, forged by faithfulness.

God’s timing is not about efficiency—it’s about transformation.

It’s entirely possible that the reason you have not seen the goodness you long for yet—financial opportunity, a spouse and a family, freedom from addiction—is because you are not ready for it yet. To enter the “promised land” now will be premature, and you won’t be able to cherish it the way that God does.

Maybe you are eager to move forward without God, because you know best. Maybe you are stuck in fear, because you think you’ve afraid missed your chance. Or maybe you assume God isn’t guiding you at all because He’s not working on your timeline.

The wilderness isn’t about punishment; it’s about preparation.

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness—not because He sinned, but because He was being prepared for His mission. While Israel spent 40 years, Jesus spent 40 days. Ultimately, Israel failed their wilderness test, but Jesus passed His—so that we can trust Him to lead us through ours.

Obeying God’s Guidance (Numbers 9:23)

Numbers 9:23 CSB

They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command. They carried out the Lord’s requirement according to his command through Moses.

Israel moved when He said move. They camped when He said camp. They learned to trust God step by step.

Faith is not about knowing every step in advance—it’s about taking the next step in trust.

Faith is not about clarity—it’s about trusting the One who leads.

That’s what makes obedience so difficult. We like to be in control. We like to weigh our options. We want all the steps mapped out before we commit. But the wilderness journey doesn’t work that way.

For Israel, obedience was not just about getting to the promised land—it was about learning to trust the One leading them. If they had marched ahead of the cloud, they would have been lost. If they had refused to move when it lifted, they would have missed out on where God was taking them. Every step was a decision to trust.

Obedience is hard because it requires faith.

We often say we want to follow God—but do we actually trust Him enough to wait? To move when He says move? To stay when He says stay?

For some of us, obedience means staying faithful in the mundane—showing up every day, doing what God has asked, even when it feels like nothing is happening. For others, obedience means taking a step of faith—stepping into the unknown, even when it’s uncomfortable or scary. For some, obedience means surrendering control—letting go of our own plans and trusting that God’s way is better.

John Mark Comer: A common feature of the Fall is to aspire to a beautiful life but then fail at the commitment, discipline, and patient endurance required to turn that vision into reality. Most of us genuinely desire what is good, but we fail because we avoid, procrastinate, or make excuses rather than take the necessary steps to move forward into our hearts’ desires. We constantly self-sabotage. This is the great challenge of discipleship: to move from aspirational ideas to authentic transformation.

Obedience is the bridge between knowing and following. Between aspiration and transformation. Between wilderness and promise.

Where is God asking you to take a step of faith today?

A Blessing for the Journey (Numbers 6:24-27)

As we wrap up today, I want to remind you of something really important: 

You don’t have to have it all together to receive God’s blessing. You just have to follow Him.

In the wilderness, Israel struggled. They doubted, they complained, they failed—yet God never abandoned them. He continued to lead them, provide for them, and bless them.

At Sinai, God gave the priests a powerful blessing to speak over the people, a blessing that would carry them through the uncertainties of the journey:

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

This blessing was not a reward for perfect obedience. It was a reminder that God’s favor is with His people—even in the wilderness.

Then, God tells them this:

Numbers 6:27 CSB

In this way they will pronounce my name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Carmen Joy Imes: God puts His name on His people. They belong to Him. He is committed to them—even when they fail. From this moment on, they are identified as his. And the wonder of it all is that they’ve done so little to deserve it. They have whined, complained, doubted, rebelled, and cowered in fear when they should have trusted. But God is committed in his plan to bless.

So wherever you are in your journey today—whether you are feeling lost, restless, or weary—know this: God is still leading. He is still faithful. He is still blessing you.

You may not feel like you have your life together. You may feel like you’ve messed up too many times. But God’s blessing isn’t about what you’ve done—it’s about who you belong to.

And if you belong to Him, His face shines on you. His grace rests upon you. His peace is yours.

Take heart. The wilderness is not forever. But even here, God is with you.

Are We There Yet?

Have you ever taken a road trip with kids? There’s one question that every parent knows they will hear at least a hundred times: “Are we there yet?”

That’s Israel in the wilderness. And if we’re honest, that’s us.

We want to know the destination. We want to skip the hard parts. We want to be there already.

But the wilderness is not wasted time—it’s preparation.

Maybe you feel like you’re in-between right now. You don’t know where this road is leading. You don’t know how long you’ll be in this season. You don’t know why God has you here.

But the good news is: You don’t have to find your own way—God is already leading the way.

If you are in a season of doubt—look for His presence.

If you are in a season of waiting—trust His timing.

If you are in a season of transition—follow His guidance.

The wilderness is not the end of the story. God is leading you somewhere.

So today, I want to speak the same blessing over you that God spoke over His people so long ago:

"May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace."

PRAY