Exodus 13:17-22
We have just spent the last 10 days looking at the plagues, and seeing the vision God had, not just to bring Israel out of Egypt, but also you and me. We have been able to see how each one of these plagues increased as God showed His mighty power and ability. One by one, the idols are revealed, and, one by one, God proved only He could destroy them, and bring His people into a place where our vision is no longer on ourselves, but on Him alone.
According to the Scripture we are looking at today, Israel is now in need of some directions, some road maps, some signs, some vision of where to go. When we leave home on a journey, we first get out the atlas and map out the roads we will be traveling on, but they were in a foreign country, and no maps were available. How would they know which direction to go? “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.” (vs. 21) A pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire? When the pillar was taken up, the people would journey, and where the pillar would settle, the people would pitch their tents. At the command of the Lord, the people would set up camp, and at the command of the Lord, they would move on. Would they be willing to keep their vision on a cloud, and listen to the command of the Lord through Moses? Will we? We have so many ideas and plans and thoughts and directions for our lives, and God wants to destroy our idols and bring us onto the ground where we belong, with our vision where it should be, and teach us how to walk with Him in the Spirit.
If you read vs. 17 of our text, you will find that God did not lead them the nearest way, but by the way He thought best. Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts , nor your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Let’s come together out of the bondage to our own thoughts, and set our vision on the cloud, and listen to the command of the Lord through our pastor, and travel through this life in the Spirit of Christ. Just as our text makes clear that even the bones of Joseph were not left behind in Egypt, God will lead us all the way, and not one of our bones will be left behind in this world.
~ Debbie Frantz
