Have you ever been at the crossroads wondering which direction to go? Where there moments in your life when you hesitated over the time to start some job or travel? We all at some time in life face this dilemma. And the Israelites also had to undergo this issue in the wilderness. But God had a special way to lead them.

📖 For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys (Ex 40:38).

The tabernacle was in the center of the Israelite camp. All the twelve tribes were camped in their specific location around the tabernacle. And the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle day in and day out. In the night the cloud appeared as a pillar of fire. The cloud manifested:

God’s Presence
The cloud was the token of God’s Presence. Whenever they were worried or scared all they had to do was to look at the cloud and immediately realized that God was with them, leading them and guiding them. It strengthened their faith in Him.

God’s Compass
The cloud was the compass in the desert for the Israelites. There was no GPS, google map or any other location devices to direct them. Instead the cloud of the Lord became the compass pointing them the way. The cloud lead the people in all their journeys for forty years until they reached the Promised Land.

God’s Protection
The pillar of cloud protected the entire campsite from the harsh desert temperatures and desert rains. The pillar of cloud protected them from attacks of strangers. The enemy on seeing the peculiar cloud of protection day in and day out dare not attack them.

God’s Ilumination
Night times in the desert are darkest, difficult times without light. The cloud turned into a pillar of fire illuminating the entire area for the Israelites. Thus in the darkest hours they were least worried or scared. He who lead the Israelites in the darkest hours is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In His light we are able to see in the dark.

God’s Direction
In their journeys the cloud directed them when they had to move forward and when they had to stop. They moved when the cloud moved. And they stopped when the cloud stopped.

📖 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up (Ex 40:36, 37).

Dear ones in Christ we are on our journey to the Promised Land of Eternal Canaan. God has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit to guide us, lead us and direct us in this earthly life. We stay under His protection and presence as long as we read His word and are led by His Spirit. This guidance exists till we reach our land of glory. With this confidence let us continue our journey to eternity.

God bless us to be channels of blessings.

Mrs Sheela Jebakumar ✍
05-08-2020

🔥 The glory of the Lord

The Israelites completed all the work on the tabernacle just as the Lord commanded to Moses (40:33). The last few chapters of Exodus records that they had followed all of God’s prior instructions for building the tabernacle. They took this project very seriously. It became for them not just a symbol, but the actual reality of ‘God living in their midst’.

After describing a great deal about the construction of the tabernacle, Exodus 40:34-38 dedicates just 5 verses to its culmination and those verses record a remarkable event, “THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE”

In the New Testament, we are the temple (the dwelling place) of God. So, we need to follow all the instructions of God, in our life with care and reverence.

May God help us to complete the work and let the Glory of the Lord come in us.

Prema Rajasingh
Admin Group no.1799