At His Command
Numbers 9:18 · Lamentations 3:26 (NIV)
On Sunday, October 11, a rover on Mars set a record.
NASA reported that its Perseverance rover had driven 28.10 miles since it landed in 2021. It passed the old mark on its 2,006th day on Mars. No rover has ever driven farther on another world. The old record of 28.06 miles belonged to Opportunity, an earlier NASA rover.
Perseverance has traveled farther than its original mission plan called for. "The original mission called for no more than 12.4 miles of driving," said Steven Lee, the project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The rover follows a path that mission planners on Earth lay out for it, one waypoint at a time. Between those points, its cameras map the ground and choose a safe way through. Mark Maimone, deputy team chief for robotic operations on the Perseverance team, said, "Perseverance is a better driver than the one that landed, and we're not done."
Israel knew what it was to travel a long road at someone else's direction.
The book of Numbers tells of Israel's years in the wilderness after GOD brought them out of Egypt. A cloud rested over the tabernacle, the place where they worshiped. "At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp" (Numbers 9:18).
Nobody in that camp knew how long a stop would last. "Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out" (Numbers 9:22). The waiting was part of the journey too. GOD was present over the camp in both.
Abram, the man GOD later renamed Abraham, knew the moving side of that road. "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you'" (Genesis 12:1). GOD named what Abram was to leave and promised to show him where to go. The next step began with trust in the One who called him. Genesis tells what he did next. "So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran" (Genesis 12:4).
King David knew the waiting side. David was the shepherd who became king of Israel and wrote many of the psalms. In Psalm 62 people are trying to bring him down. They treat him like "this leaning wall, this tottering fence," and "with their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse" (Psalm 62:3-4). Right in the middle of that, he writes, "Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him" (Psalm 62:1). A few lines later he speaks to his own soul. "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him" (Psalm 62:5). Then he turns to everyone listening: "pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge" (Psalm 62:8).
The rest David found came from GOD, and so did the hope. He did not have to make either one.
That kind of patience runs all the way to the cross. A bishop named Irenaeus led the church in Lyon, in what is now France, around AD 180. In Against Heresies III.18.5, he wrote about the prayer JESUS spoke while HE was being crucified: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Irenaeus wrote that in that prayer "the long-suffering, patience, compassion, and goodness of Christ are exhibited." He described JESUS as "loving the human race to such a degree, that He even prayed for those putting Him to death."
Luke records both the prayer for forgiveness and the mockery around the cross (Luke 23:34-37). Even there, JESUS prayed for those who hurt HIM. David's enemies spoke blessings they did not mean. JESUS meant every word.
The book of Lamentations was written after Jerusalem fell to Babylon. In the middle of that sorrow comes this line: "it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lamentations 3:26). The salvation belongs to GOD. The waiting happens under HIS care.
GOD led Israel in the setting out and in the staying. HE gave David rest while the pressure was still on. The same GOD leads HIS people now, in the moving and in the waiting.
It does leave me thinking about the seasons I spent sure I should be moving, while the cloud stayed right where it was.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one waiting with no idea how long the wait will last, GOD knows exactly where you are.
🙏 To the one starting something new late in life, Abram was seventy-five when he set out.
🙏 To the one under pressure from every side, GOD is your rock and your refuge even now.
🙏 To the one cursed by someone you trusted, JESUS prayed for the people who hurt HIM, and HE knows that wound.
Grace and Peace.