Camp of God

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

CAMP OF GOD

Gen 32:1-2

32:1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.  

NIV

We are not told if there was any exchange between Jacob and the angels of God who met him, but it would make sense they said something to Jacob. Still, the fact that the angels of God came down to meet with him was a great event. Jacob responded by calling that place the camp of God. Because Mahanaim means two camps we wonder if we can make this a part of our story. First, to have the angels of God meet with us seems unnecessary as we have the very Spirit of God camping within us. Yet, it is also possible that we have encountered angels and have been unaware, although we would think if the Spirit is camping, or making his dwelling within us, we would know if we were in the presence of angels. First, we know from the psalmist that he will command his angels to guard us in all our ways. Second, we are told the angel of the LORD camps around us because we fear him and he delivers us. We live in this world, but our citizenship is in the kingdom of God, where the miraculous happens because this is where God resides with Jesus at his right hand. It would make sense that because we are his people and He is our God and he has commissioned angels to guard or encamp around us if we were to see with our spiritual eyes, we would know we meet with angels of God regularly. However, we think it would be wise for us to take our eyes off the things of this world, and look to the thing is God. We know that if we turn our eyes upon Jesus, the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Because of this, we would be more apt to see those angels who were tasked to watch over us or camp around us. We live in a place of wonder, a place of grace, where God, through either the Spirit or angels camping around us, influences our hearts and ways, ordering our footsteps. In another sense, when we step into the sanctuary at church, we step into the camp of God. There is one place we know where we can meet with the living God, sitting around the campfire, the very Light of this world. Therefore, Mahanaim could mean to us the two camps of God, one as the Spirit camps within us, and two, where we meet or camp with the living God in the sanctuary of God. Either way, we believe we are always in the camp of God.