A cloud by day and fire by night. God made His
guidance apparent and clearly shown. Sometimes, I’ve noticed, it stays in a
certain place for unpredictable amounts of time. Sometimes it stayed for a
short amount of time. The text doesn’t give any reason but I believe God has
His reasons. I personally think God was teaching the Israelites patients.
Patients is vital, to just learn to be calm, knowing He is God. When they were
waiting, they had water and food. I think the Israelites were at first eager to
be moving, they were eager to keep going. Then, eventually, they knew/learned
that they have all they need. I think they were just able to live their lives
with the peace that their Father had them. All they needed to worry about was
when to continue on to the next location/thing/object. It’s not that hard to
follow a burning cloud of fire. When they saw it, it would just remind them
that God is God. He is powerfully enough to provide, you’ll get wherever He leads.
There’s just no need to worry. That right there is something that people who
trust in the Lord don’t need to think about. He will provide. The world doesn’t
share that view. If you don’t have the Lord in your life, al the weight of
everything just falls on you. When something goes wrong, it’s your fault, no
one else to blame. Need a job? It’s all on you. Are you hungry? Scrape up
something to eat. Are you weak and need to be strong? Pull your bootstraps up.
You’re the only one who can at this time. You’re the only one who cares about
you! You made the choice! We weren’t created like that. We were created to run
off of Him, His power. The Lord wants to give you what you need, but you need
to follow the cloud. You need to walk on the path that He laid out.
You
say,, where do I start? You first take baby steps. You pray and tell Him you
want to follow. You then do what you say, and follow through following His word
in the bible. Follow what He asks you there. He’ll develop in you a passion for
a certain part of it. You spend time with Him regularly. He’ll open up doors
and make new pathways to follow. That’s how you do it. Trust the path He lays
before you.
Matthew Kelly
11/26/12
