MENTORED BY THE MASTER

“When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

Exodus 33:7-11

I have always loved this story of Moses going into the Tent of Meeting and talking with God ‘face to face, as a man speaks with his friend’.  It reminds me of my Quiet Times with God in the mornings, when I have my coffee and read the Bible and simply sitting in God’s Presence.  It is a spiritual Practice I began early in my spiritual journey and have remained faithful to it for over forty years.  It never became a duty to do, but was always a delight to participate in.

One day while reading this passage my thoughts focused on the ending sentence that speaks of Joshua.  I began to picture him, seeing Moses go to the Tent of Meeting and secretly following him and sitting outside of the Tent, listening to the conversation between God and Moses.  But when Moses left Joshua remained.  Did God speak to Joshua as well, as he sat outside of the Tent?  It didn’t say that the cloud, God’s Presence, left.  It simply says that Joshua would not depart from the tent.  I would tend to think that God spoke with Joshua as well, because of whom Joshua became and what God had in store for him.  God went to Joshua and passed the torch of leadership on to him. 

          “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to

           Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aid: Moses my servant id dead.  Now then,

           you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the

           land I am about to give to them…As I was with Moses, so I will be

           with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:1-5).

Joshua went on to be the leader of these people that God had freed from slavery, not by a vote from the people, but by direct assignment from God Himself.  Were those times of following Moses and sitting outside of the Tent of Meeting times when God and Joshua were speaking with one another; or did God simply honor the determination and faithfulness of a young man who followed his master to over hear their conversation and then didn’t want to leave the place where the Presence of God was.

I am a great believer and supporter of the idea of mentoring.  The concept has been around for a long time.  Apprenticeship or discipleship to one who is a master of something is a great way to learn, hands on, a trade, a practice, or a way of life. Jesus work in that capacity with the twelve men who were seeking something in him.  He walked around being who he was and doing good, giving glory to his Father.  He was a “dispenser of a new thirst and a hunger” for God, and his disciples were the recipients of that thirst and hunger and then told by Jesus to be that for others.  They were to be salt, making people thirsty, and light, showing the way, to the people of the world that they came in contact with.

There have been people in my life that were that dispenser.  I would watch and listen to them and do what they did.  But most important I would follow them to the Tent of Meeting and I would stay there, by myself, in God’s Presence, and learn from Him.  It is good to learn from one another.  But what is crucial is to find where they go to learn who they are and what to do; follow their lead to the Tent of Meeting and then remain there yourself, in God’s Presence.  Then we can become salt and light to others, making them thirsty and lighting the path to the one who can satisfy that thirst.