Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Spirit...My Pillar of Cloud


Numbers 9:15-19 -  On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.  That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.  Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.  At the LORD's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.  When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's order and did not set out.

 

It must have been an amazing thing to look upon…this pillar of a cloud that contained God’s very presence. How comforted they must have been by God’s presence in the middle of the camp. They could look up at any time during the day and see the pillar of a cloud resting on the tabernacle…and as they settled in to rest and sleep for the next day’s work…they could but look toward the tabernacle and see the glow from the pillar…transformed at night to look like a glowing fire.

 

They camped and moved at the command of the Lord….asking no questions…they just knew they had to follow the cloud…to obey the God who had brought them out of captivity in Egypt. It didn’t matter…one night….two days…a week…a year…they settled when the cloud stopped…and moved when the cloud moved. They packed and moved when the cloud moved…unpacked and camped when the cloud stopped.

 

I couldn’t help but think that life would be easier if I had my own pillar of cloud to follow. God knows how much I struggle with knowing whether or not I am just where he needs me to be. I am beginning to believe that my struggle with where to be…is just Satan…the author of confusion…who convinces me to chase rabbits…just to get me off track what God wants me to do. I guess what it really boils down to is that I just have not learned to use what he did give me….when he rose to his father in Heaven and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our movements here on Earth.

 

God manifested himself to Jesus as a dove when he was baptized into his ministry. The Spirit walked with him and helped him to have the courage to complete the hard task of dying on that cross for our sins.  Jesus prayed and spoke with his father often…and he called on the many scriptures he had studied and placed permanently in his heart as a child.  And as Jesus spoke with the disciples after his resurrection...his words to all of us were recorded John 14:26 … “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

 

Father…I thank you once again for reminding me that you are always with me…that you have sent your spirit to live within my heart and guide me in my daily tasks. Help me to learn to use it more completely…to learn to listen to the soft voice of God as he speaks through his comforter. Help me to pray for your guidance and place more of your word inside my heart permanently…so I can more quickly decide what you have planned for me to do. Teach me father…all things…especially how to recognize Satan the next time he waves a rabbit in my face that looks like something you want me to do. Help me to be that turtle…and wait on you to move that cloud…so I will follow you…and be exactly where you want me to be. Amen.

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