The Cloud “Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.” Numbers 9:21b My life, like most everyone else’s seems to revolve around my computer and other electronic communication devices. As I write this, I am getting almost hourly texts of the progress of the surgery on a family member more than a thousand miles away. I know how to use these methods and devices, but I sure don’t understand how they work. I have always felt a little uneasy when information was stored on my hard drive or a thumb drive. But now, there is something new, as information is stored “in the cloud,” something even more removed and mysterious. It makes me think of another cloud, the one mentioned in Numbers 9. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and they had to pass through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. God was their guide by means of a cloud that appeared overhead. When it moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped – sometimes a day, a week, even a year. Imagine living with the uncertainty of this situation. One day you work at getting your “house” in order, only to have to pick up the stakes and move. Your ability to plan is totally gone. But even greater is the temptation to move when the cloud did not move because you felt it was time to move. For the Israelites, perhaps the grass was no longer green. Perhaps the water was not easily accessible. Perhaps the bugs were a problem. Whatever the case, they were strictly prohibited from moving if the cloud did not move. Nothing has changed. God through His Holy Spirit is still our life guide. We are not to move unless the Holy Spirit instructs us to do so. We are not to make a move on the basis of whether or not it makes sense, but on the leading of the Holy Spirit’s “cloud” in our life. It is a difficult process to move only when we are directed, and to remain if we are not. The pressure is always upon us to move, to plan, to act. But if we act, we may move into a place where the presence of God may not be. The Christian believer must learn to move when God says move and not before. It is a sign of complete surrender and dependence on God’s Spirit to direct our life. Are you are sitting under His cloud today? Or, have you moved when He said stand still?
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 19:06:54 +0000
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