God Does Not Follow His People - Exodus 39-40; Psalm 35:1-16; Proverbs 9:11-12

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out--until the day it lifted. 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 house of Israel during all their travels.

 

God does not follow His people; God’s people follow Him.

 

I think that sometimes believers get the idea, because of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28:20 (“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”), that we can relax about following our God. He’s always with us, right? He came to us, right? Surely, if we just sit on our couches and enjoy ourselves, He’ll stay with us, right? Why do the hard work of following Him wherever He leads when He has promised to be with us always?

 

That’s not how it was after the Exodus. When God stayed put, His people stayed put. When God moved, His people moved. If God stayed put and the people moved, they would no longer have been together. If God moved and the people stayed put, they would no longer have been together, either.

 

God is leading us toward His purposes, His destination, the fulfillment of His plans. When Jesus said that He would be with us always, it was immediately after He gave us our marching orders: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20). For a believer not to be involved in these things is rebellion. A believer who refuses to follow Jesus’ lead in making disciples should not assume Jesus is with him; instead, he should test himself to see whether he really believes that Jesus is the Christ whom sinners killed, who rose to life again, and who is coming back one day to restore His kingdom and wipe sin, decay, curse, and death off the map.

 

If Jesus is our King, our Lord, our God, let’s act like it. Let’s follow Him.

 

Father, thank You that You are willing to be our King and Father. Thank You that You are willing to be with us—so willing that You sent Your Son to die so that we could be forgiven and have an open relationship with You! And thank You that now, as Your people, we can follow You all the way to heaven. Remind us to follow. Give us clear instructions day by day. Thank You for accepting our weak, limited, powerless obedience and guiding us forward by Your strong, limitless, powerful hand. Give us the strength and life to listen, to obey, to follow.