walking with God

I love it when I finish a good book. All the drama and action and intrigue comes to a satisfying resolution, and I can reflect on the ups and downs and the lessons learned, and imagine a happy future.

This morning I finished the book of Exodus. It began with a description of the nation that grew from Israel’s small family, and their subjugation by a new Pharaoh. It told the story of Moses, from the bulrushes to the palace to the desert and then back to Egypt. It related God’s mighty work in prying his people from Pharaoh’s grip with ten plagues and a crashing wall of water. It recounted God’s faithfulness in spite of the intransigence of his people, and it culminated in the glorious achievement of the construction of the Tabernacle.

And then, after all that, here’s how it ends, in Exodus 40:34-38: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”

God’s people, and me with them, are headed for Leviticus and Deuteronomy and the Promised Land, but we aren’t going alone. God settled into his home built in the midst of his people, and he led them every step of the way. Literally, he led them. He signaled the start of the march, he showed the direction, he chose the next resting place and defined the duration of the stay.

I wonder how that felt? Following that God wouldn’t be a choice, unless you chose to leave your people completely. Loving him would be easy, it seems, because his care was visible. I suppose getting frustrated with him would be easy too – familiarity breeds contempt, the old saying goes. But to be able to look up from your work or play or rest and see the cloud and the fire, always there, had to have been supremely comforting and encouraging.

God is an amazing God, to walk patiently with his people like that. Even though it’s not visible to me, my own flame-filled cloud is right there for me to follow. Oh, for spiritual eyes to see!