Move With the Cloud
“Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.”— Exodus 40:36–37
While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they carried a tabernacle with them. God gave them specific instructions for how the tabernacle should be designed in order for God’s presence to rest over this portable sanctuary as a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. Whenever the cloud or the pillar of fire stopped, they would set up camp and remain in that location as long as the fire and the cloud stayed in that place. But as soon as it moved, the children of Israel immediately packed up camp and followed the cloud or the pillar of fire wherever it went.
In doing this, the Lord was training His people to be sensitive to His Spirit. They never knew when the cloud or the fire was going to lift, and they never knew where it was going to set. They could be traveling again in two days, two months, or two years—they never knew what was coming next. They had to be ready 24/7 to instantly obey the Lord.
Beloved, that is how the Lord wants us to be. He wants us to be flexible and obey His voice immediately and be led by His Spirit. God does not follow our human logic. He makes the last first and the first last, and He says the least will be the greatest. He chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. We cannot put God in a box, nor can we figure Him out, so let’s stop trying.
The children of Israel never knew when the fire or the cloud would lift or where it would go, and they had to obey God at a moment’s notice—and that is how God wants us to be. He wants us to move with the cloud because as we obey God, miracles will happen in our lives.
Father God, help me to be sensitive to Your Spirit. As the Israelites moved with the cloud by day and the fire by night when they were wandering in the wilderness, help me to respond to Your leading as soon as You speak. I ask, Father, that You sharpen my discernment so I will be better able to recognize Your voice.
Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Revelation (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2020), Used by permission.