When great armies of the past gathered in preparation for battle, the camp would gather around a central tent where the leaders, the generals and perhaps the king would be housed. This way all the soldiers would focus on the leaders and be as close as possible to them.

When Israel had finished taking a count of all the people, God instructed them to gather together in a great camp but, instead of having a central tent for the leaders and king, their central tent was the Tabernacle, where God made himself present.

As Christians, we take joy in the knowledge that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now have access to the most high God. However, God’s desire to be right among his people is not a new thing. In the beginning, God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden and here, God dwells among his people in the Tabernacle. The curtain may separate the fulness of his glory in the most holy place from the people outside, but this is balanced by God’s desire to have all the people as near to his presence as possible.

How glorious it is that we do not worship a distant, uninterested God. Instead, we worship a God who longs to be with and among his people. So, if we look at the ‘encampment’ of our lives, what is at the centre? Is it the Lord, taking the central place that is his right? Or does something else sit in the place of the glory of God? He longs to be close to us. Let us draw close to him.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH