Sometimes I wish that God's direction and messages to me were a bit more obvious. It would be amazing to hear the audible voice of God say things like, "You should live here" or "You should be friends with this person" or "You should pursue this career." That would be cool, wouldn't it?
In this passage, we read about how God provided visible signs of His presence and guidance for His people through a cloud and pillar of fire:
The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting,
and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
Moses couldn't enter the Tent of Meeting
because the Cloud was upon it,
and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
Whenever the Cloud lifted from The Dwelling,
Whenever the Cloud lifted from The Dwelling,
the People of Israel set out on their travels,
but if the Cloud did not lift,
they wouldn't set out until it did lift.
The Cloud of God was over The Dwelling during the day
and the fire was in it at night,
visible to all the Israelites in all their travels.
You'd think that seeing visible signs of God's presence would make it very easy for people to follow His guidance. You'd think that it would be easy for them to trust Him.
And you'd be wrong. Even with obvious signs, the Israelites doubted God and often struggled to follow Him.
I don't know about you, but I don't have many visible signs of God's presence. And I think it's even rarer for Him to give obvious signs pf His presence to big groups of people (for example, I haven't heard reports of the big visible cloud or pillar of fire showing up at a church lately).
This could be my own theory, but I wonder if it's because God wants us to really trust Him. By definition, you don't need faith in something you can see plainly. However, I still believe that God provides signs of His presence and guidance...you just have to look for them.
Yesterday stood out to me for several reasons, but one being that I felt like I was getting the same repeated message (in a few different ways). At church, I saw clips from "The Family Man" and our pastor talked about the power we have to choose what's important to us. We choose how we spend our time and money. We choose what we think about. And at pivotal moments, we make destiny-altering decisions (like Nicolas Cage in the movie who chose to leave on a plane for a London internship at an investment firm versus staying with the woman he loved). At lunch, I had conversations with friends about career and life choices leading to the question, "What's really important to you?" Later, we saw "Up in the Air" with George Clooney--a movie about a guy whose views of life and work are challenged. It was as if God was saying (or shouting?) to me, "Your work is not your life. Choose what's important. Choose Me and what I'm calling you to." Even the fact that I read this passage today (one I've thought of or heard at previous life-altering moments) seems like another sign that God is promising His guidance.
I'm not suggesting that you (or I) read too much into things. It's entirely possible to do so. But I am saying that sometimes God speaks through things that may not seem obvious. His signs today are not always visible--but that's where your faith and trust in Him comes into play. Or in the words of one of my favorite questions (from The Truth Project): Do you believe that what you believe is really real?
Tomorrow: Leviticus 1-4
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