Clouds and Trials

Numbers 9:15-23 "Whether it was two days, or a month. or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out."

As I read the verse above and the ones surrounding it, I couldn’t help but place myself in the Israelites shoes and realize that, I too, would have been just as guilty of the grumbling and complaining that characterized their lives. Can you imagine setting up camp, trying to make everything look homey and organized…flopping down into bed exhausted at the end of the day only to wake up the next morning and see “The Cloud” lifting from the tabernacle and realizing you would be packing up and heading on again. Or imagine being in one spot for a month…finally settling into a routine, finally feeling a little bit comfortable with your new surroundings and feeling yourself start to “relax”…and then you see “The Cloud” rising above the tabernacle and your heart starts to sink. WHY?

They were forgetting, in those moments, what we can now see more clearly as we look back and read the account in the Bible.“The Cloud”, which to them must have seemed like one big trial after another was actually the THE LORD leading them faithfully to the Promise Land. It was the Lord reminding them daily to “look up”…to keep their eyes fixed on Him each and every moment for direction and guidance. It was the Lord keeping them from becoming too focused on the temporal by reminding them daily, weekly and monthly that this world is not their home.

I couldn’t help but be hit with the reality that our trials are very much like the cloud the Israelites followed. They come in various shapes and sizes…but they come often, none the less. They come through the mighty hands of God to sanctify us, to help us keep our eyes fixed on the Lord as we wait on Him and to remind us that the goal in life is not to be comfortable…it’s to be like Christ! We can consider them all joy knowing where our trials (both big and small) are leading us…ever closer to the Promise Land. Ever closer to Heaven. Ever closer to eternity with Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

I pray that today we might recognize anew God’s sovereignty over all things and, as a result, do all things without complaining and arguing and find great joy in the fact that God IS truly working out all things for our good and His glory!