‘So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.’ Ex 40:38

The word today takes us all the way back to the Old Testament, to the Israelites on their forty-year journey looking for the promised land. They’ve made it out of Egypt and escaped the oppression of the Pharoah. You’d think that would be when the parties began, the unending songs of praise, and the overflowing offerings to a God so great and gracious he would part the sea to rescue his people. Nope. 

WHINING BEGINS

That’s when the whining started. What will we eat, what will we drink? Why did we leave Egypt where our (horrid, enslaved, and brutalized) life was safe and predictable? The Lord responds by providing manna and quail. Where I live, quail is a high-end luxury item on a menu. Pricey.  I’ve not found manna on a menu anywhere, but given that it’s coming from the LORD, to go with quail, I’m going to assume this is the tastiest bread these people have ever tasted. The Lord is providing all the Israelites need to survive. But not just eke out a subsistence, but high-quality sustenance. 

Skip forward a few chapters and the Israelites are given the ten commandments. Now really, who loves rules? Most of us don’t. We can feel restricted, depending on the rules. But the other day, my sixteen-year-old daughter came to me quietly and thanked me. Somewhat taken aback, I asked what I was being thanked for. “For being strict and bringing us up to be good people.” I was teary and more than a little floored, because sometimes the rules generate a little … discontent/pushback/stomping/whining. Ultimately, though, they make us feel safe. Once again, the LORD blessed his people. 

GOD’S GRACE IS BIGGER

By the end of Exodus, they’ve been given detailed instructions on how to build the tabernacle, which will be home to the glory or presence of God. And then we reach the final chapter and the final verse. Here we learn the cloud was over the tabernacle by day. Let’s pause and think. They’re in the middle east, not Wales or Washington state. It’s not a gloomy, overcast sort of place. A thick, white cloud is going to be very visible against a blue sky. Then at night, there was a fire in the cloud which made it visible. 

This is no ordinary cloud. Nope. It contained the glory of the LORD. And the Israelites would understand the significance of this visual. After the flood, the covenant with Noah, that the LORD made, stating he would never again wipe out humanity, came with a sign. A rainbow. But if you read the verses carefully, you’ll see the rainbow came from a cloud. Here the Israelites are, in the wilderness. Facing real struggles, big questions, having to face down enemies, and what does the LORD do? He gives them a constant visual that they aren’t alone. Despite the times they complain and rebel, his love is bigger. 

The message we can take from the cloud is that no matter what’s on our minds, material things, life issues, problems with sin, you are never alone. Just look up if you need a reminder.

Your turn: what are some ways, big, small, visual or otherwise, that the Lord has shown he’s with you through it all?