Moses — the guy did it all! Body surfing the Nile as a baby, he was educated at the U. of Egypt as a young man. Took up activism in his late 30’s, standing against the oppression his adoptive family so harshly promoted. And then ended up crossing a line, making him a fugitive and forcing him to flee into relative obscurity for a number of decades. Obscure decades but not uneventful decades. Took a wife, had some kids, learned to be a shepherd, stood before a burning bush, talked to God, was recruited to be a deliverer.

Back in Egypt, partnered with his brother who would become his spokesmen, learned some cool moves with his staff, and went head-to-head with Pharaoh. A few plagues later, and one unforgettable night that would not only stand out, but would “pass over” every other night, he would then lead a nation of slaves out of bondage and into freedom. Well, actually, he first led them up against a sea — but that was quickly remedied. And then — though not plan “A” — he led them for forty years in the wilderness, talking with God, interceding for the people, and performing a miracle every now and then. And oh, yeah, one more thing — he kept a diary.

These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the LORD, and these are their stages according to their starting places.

(Numbers 33:1-2 ESV)

Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage . . . that’s what I’m chewing on this morning. “Under GOD’s instruction Moses kept a log of every time they moved, camp by camp” (MSG).

Come on! With all the stuff that was already on his plate, with all the disputes he settled, with all the grumbling he heard, with all the opposition he incurred, with all the acts of rebellion that ended up in the death of dozens and hundreds and thousands, he kept a diary too? Evidently.

And it sparks a thought . . . while Moses wrote about the journey, he was but a co-author. After all, all Scripture is breathed out by God (2Tim. 3:16) and the prophets of old spoke (and I would think wrote) “as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2Pet. 1:21). So, while Moses journaled in the wilderness, it was God who was keeping track.

Isn’t that just like our Father in heaven, the One who orders our steps (Ps. 37:23, Ps. 18:36), the One who numbers even the hairs on our head (Mt. 10:30), and the One who is so compassionately attentive that He collects our tears in a bottle (Ps. 56:8)? Yeah, that’s Him. The One who knows our starting places, stage by stage.

With all the setbacks Moses encountered along the way, I’m thinking God knew it was important for Moses to keep reminding himself that he was still making progress. To know afresh that, every time they set forth, God was with them, His presence always leading them, His glory always hovering over them. For a journey that seemed to take a lifetime (and it did), every time Moses wrote a starting place down on whatever he wrote it down on, he remembered that what God had delivered His people for, God would deliver His people to.

Our God is the God of the journey. The God of all our starting places. Of our going forth. Of our making progress. Even in those seasons when the trek seems to be marked by three-steps-forward-and-two-steps-back, He is the God who is tracking our journey, stage by stage, and wants us to track it too. For He is the God who has promised that the good work begun in us through deliverance, would be the good work completed in us through our Deliverer (Php. 1:6).

Stage by stage. Little by little. One day at a time.

God knows our way. God leads our way. God keeps track of our way. All along the way.

By His grace. For His glory.

He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden’s flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
when, by Thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me;
by His own hand He leadeth me:
His faithful follower I would be,
for by His hand He leadeth me.

~ Joseph H. Gilmore