FOLLOWING THE CLOUD

Good is always the enemy of best.  Doing good things for God is not the same as doing the thing that God asks us to do.  We can fill our lives with many religious activities and good works, and still be disobedient to God because we do not do the thing that He asks.  Saul, the first King of Israel, fell out of favor with God by offering a great sacrifice to the Lord instead of simply obeying what he had been told to do.  Jesus told a rich ruler who had kept all of the commandments since he was a child that he yet lacked one thing from having eternal life.  That man walked away grieved because, despite all his devotion, he could not do the one thing Jesus asked.

 

After being delivered from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, the Israelites were then lead by Moses into the Desert of Sinai.  God had told them that He would lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey - the Promised Land - but they didn’t know where that was!  They didn’t know what direction to go, or how far away it was, or how long it would take them to get there.  They were totally dependant on God for direction.  So, God sent them a pillar of cloud that guided them by day, and a pillar of fire that guided them by night.  When the pillar moved, they followed; when the pillar stopped, they made camp.  This cloud led them day by day – every day – until they eventually entered the Promised Land.  “And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.  For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus40:36-38).

 

Just as the children of Israel were promised a land flowing with milk and honey; we, too, have been given many precious promises by God.  We need guidance in this life, though, to know how we should live and what we should do to ensure our entrance into that heavenly Kingdom.  We want to hear the Lord say to us, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” and not be turned away because we did not follow the plan that He had for our lives.

 

God has not left us without direction.  He has given to us the Holy Spirit to lead us in this life so that we can clearly discern His purposes for us from day to day.  We do not learn everything at once.  During the years of Jesus' ministry, He was not able to teach His disciples all that He could have.  Before His betrayal and crucifixion, He said to His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.” (John 16:12,13).  This Christianity is a process.  We start out as babes in Christ and then grow up into His fullness as we gain knowledge and experience with Him.  It is vital that we learn to follow the Spirit’s leading so that we can mature as spiritual beings - sons and daughters of our heavenly Father - and fulfill the great purpose for which He has created us.

 

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans Chapter 8, “…as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”  It should always be our goal to hear what the Lord is speaking to us through His Holy Spirit and then obediently follow His direction.  It is easy enough to get lost in this wilderness of sin and temptation without ignoring the very One that God has given us to lead, guide, and strengthen us through all of the pitfalls and trials.

 

Are you learning to be led by the Holy Spirit?  Are you familiar with His promptings in your life?  Do you recognize His voice above all the other voices in the world that are clamoring for your attention and demanding your obedience?  God wants to speak to you.  He wants to mold you into a vessel of honor that will glorify Him.  The world is too full of Christians who bring reproach and dishonor to the faith by the choices they make and by their undisciplined lifestyle and behavior.  God is not mocked.  Whatever a man plants in his life is the same thing that he is going to harvest. 

 

Do not be satisfied with just going to church or even doing good works in the name of Christianity.  Seek to be the best that you can be in God by listening for His still, small voice, and watching for His leading.  Let Him direct the work that you do.  After all, you are His servant.  There are not two classes of Christians, Beloved, one that serves, and one that occupies a pew.  He has called us His body.  If a member of my body was diseased and lifeless, I would begin to worry that it might need to be removed: but why not let it rather be healed!  Get close to the Savior and let the healing virtue of the Son of God flow in and through you until you can say with conviction, “I know Whom I serve, and I know where I’m going!”