So you’re in the desert. No signs. No indication of the safe path ahead. How do you find your way?
“On the day that the tabernacle was raised up,” we read in Numbers 9:15-16, “the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.” With a tabernacle full of amazing things, this was the most amazing of all—it showed God was in residence. Have you ever seen a cloud billowing upwards from a building? “Fire!” we say. But God made sure the tabernacle was all fireproof. Imagine a building made of wood and cloth, with a light source of seven open flames, plus an incense altar burning around the clock inside. Meanwhile, just outside, another fire was burning 24-7. And on top of that—literally—a cloud cover by day, providing shade, and “the appearance of fire” at night for light and warmth. But this was a nation on the move. And so, “Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents” (v 17). Both the moving and the staying were “the command of the Lord” (v 20). What a good reminder that both “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Ps 37:23) and his stops as well. Thus we read, “Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey” (Num 9:22). A two-day stop? Lord, we just got unpacked! A year-long stop? Daddy, when are we going to get there? But no. “Strength for today is mine alway, And all I need for tomorrow. My Lord knows the way through the wilderness, All I have to do is follow” (Sidney Cox).