Stay Awhile

July 23, 2026

I saw the cutest sign in a home décor store. It was a white sign, with a shabby chic or modern farmhouse vibe—which are my favorites. I thought the sign would be perfect on my front porch next to my swing. The sign read, Stay Awhile! Well… it was cute, until I read the fine print.

Under the largely exaggerated words Stay Awhile, in smaller font on the bottom of the sign it said, “but not too long, don’t make it weird!” It reminded me of a similar sign I had seen before that read, “Stay awhile, but not as long as last time.” Point taken—don’t wear out your welcome.

I love having people over and having them stay as long as they would like. My grandmother was the same way. Hospitality was a gift of hers. I remember my grandmother giving us the hardest time when we would go to leave. She would think of any excuse possible to make us stay! Nearly every time we would try to leave, she would say, “Stay awhile longer, won’t you please?” She would have a way of drawing out the word please as long as she could. You wouldn’t find a sign like one of these that I mentioned earlier in her home. Stay Awhile yes, but not with any qualifiers.

I believe the Lord Almighty desires us to linger and Stay Awhile, and probably even longer than last time! Don’t you think? I reread Exodus 33 recently and I just loved Joshua’s heart. Follow along with me. Exodus 33:7-11 reads, “Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent” (ESV).

Moses would go outside, far away from camp to seek the Lord. Everyone desiring to seek the Lord would have the opportunity to go out to this special tent—a tent of meeting with the Lord. When the Lord would meet with Moses, a pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the tent entrance and the Lord would speak with Moses face to face as a friend. Everyone would rise and worship from their own tent as they watched the Lord visit Moses at the meeting place. That had to be a sight.

According to Bible commentary by Matthew Henry, when Moses would leave quickly to bring a message from the Lord back to the people, he would leave Joshua at the tent of meeting as it wasn’t appropriate to leave the tent empty as long as the cloud of glory remained. If God had anything more to say after Moses returned to the people, Joshua would be ready and available at the tent of meeting to listen to what God may say.

Are you a Joshua? Do you linger behind for more of God’s presence when you encounter it? Would you say you don’t want to miss a word of what the Lord has to say?

Do you position yourself to stay awhile? Are you longing for more of God, or are you in a hurry to rush off? May I encourage you to stay awhile longer in His presence? What’s more important than more of God and His glory? Please stay awhile… longer than last time!

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