Daily Worship

Expecting and not expecting…

Laura Digan May 25, 2026 3 3
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Numbers 11: 24-30 (NIV-UK)

24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and made them stand round the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied – but did not do so again.

26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since youth, spoke up and said, ‘Moses, my lord, stop them!’

29 But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!’ 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

“I thought I understood how God moves.

The elders were gathered where they were meant to be, standing in the right place, waiting in the correct way. 

Then word came that Eldad and Medad were prophesying back in the camp. These two men who had the cheek to be absent from the assembly, caught as off guard as the rest of us! 

I wanted Moses to stop them. Surely God’s Spirit should arrive with order, with warning, with permission?

But Moses looked at me with weary wisdom, as though I still had so much to learn. I suppose I do.”

God does not wait for our plans before speaking. His Spirit is not confined to our tents, our timing, or our guest lists. We expect Him to move among the chosen few, yet He bursts in where no one is looking, surprising even those He calls.

 

Prayer:

 

Lord, free us from expecting You to move only in the ways we understand or among the people we choose.

Give us humble hearts that rejoice whenever Your Spirit speaks, even when it surprises us completely.

Amen