machaceh

Dependency

praying-with-open-hands 

Dependency. The word conjures up a range of thoughts and emotions. Dependency on God is always something I was taught to do by my parents and something I have strived for throughout my life. However, my understanding of dependency has taken on a new meaning over the last six or seven years.

 

Six and half years ago Aaron and I were living in Colorado Springs, Colorado preparing to enter camp ministry. We had gotten married a few months before moving there, and we were looking for a job in the Christian camping world. We were in the process of interviewing for a job at a camp in Durango, CO, when God did the unthinkable. He sent us back to Texas to start Camp Machaceh and work with underprivileged youth in our home state. This was a shock to our mountain loving selves, but we knew we had no choice. To stay in Colorado would be disobedient. Within a few months we found ourselves back in the metroplex figuring out what it meant to start a nonprofit organization. Through my experience with Camp, I am constantly challenged to be dependent on God whether for donations, volunteers, or even weather. We have seen God do amazing things through the ministry, a testament to His power and provision. Through each stage of this ministry, I learn something new about dependency. Thus, I cannot help but wonder what it must have been like for the Israelites during their desert years.

 

The Israelites were dependent on God for everything, much to their chagrin at times. They relied on God for food and water. They relied on God’s protection from their enemies, and they even relied on His guidance as to when to travel and where to camp. In Numbers 9, we learn that on the day the tabernacle was set up, the LORD descended on it in the form of a cloud. This cloud remained there, appearing as fire by night and cloud by day. However, when the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle, the Israelites knew it was time to move to a new location, and they would set out travelling until the cloud settled in a new location. Verse 23 of Numbers 9 particularly struck me:

 

 “At the command of the LORD they would camp, and at the command of the LORD they would set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.”

 

The Israelites had nothing apart from the LORD. If God had not been with them, guiding them, providing for them, they would have been left with nothing and would have most likely perished. This made me rethink dependency a bit. While I still think I have been dependent on God for many things in my life and for most all things regarding Camp Machaceh, I wonder, can I truly understand dependency unless I have relied on God for everything down to food, water, shelter, and clothing? Or is simply realizing that without the generosity of others I would be in a much different place a recognition of dependency?

My Machaceh

A few weeks ago Aaron and I had the privilege of spending a few days in Santa Fe, NM. After a summer full of camp, moving, and preparing to go back to school we just needed a break. So we headed to the mountains.

When we started Camp Machaceh over four years ago, we set out to create a refuge for campers. A safe haven from the rest of the world where they could just be kids and have an opportunity to meet with God. But Camp Refuge just didn’t seem quite right. So we started looking for other words that mean refuge. We ran across the Hebrew word machaceh in Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Machaceh here is translated refuge, but it can also mean hope and trust. Machaceh. That’s what we try to provide to our campers. A place where they can learn to hope and to trust anew. A refuge from the cruel world in which so many of them live. Machaceh.

Which brings me to the reason we went to the mountains. You see, over the past four years or so, the mountains have become for me a machaceh. It was when we lived in the mountains that God laid the vision for Camp Machaceh on our hearts. It was to the mountains that we ran after that first incredibly difficult summer. So it only makes since that we would head to the mountains at this crossroads in our life. What is it about the mountains that draws me? I am reminded of the grandeur and majesty of God in the mountains. I am reminded of His provision and His sovereignty. I feel closer to Him. I go to the mountains to reinvigorate my relationship with God. And after almost three weeks of seminary, I understand why God drew me to His mountains once more. To prepare me for the journey before me. Seminary is going to challenge and stretch me. But He is still there, and He is the reason I am going back to school.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38

All that to say, what is your machaceh? Where do you go to be rejuvenated in your relationship with God?

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