By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Exodus 13:21
Moses is fast becoming one of my favourite heroes in scripture. I’ve had a fascination with him over the years but as I grow older I’m truly starting to appreciate his life, his leadership and his friendship with God. It’s truly amazing. (I know I’ll be writing about this in the future!)
As I’m reading through Exodus, I’m seeing with new eyes how extraordinary Moses’ life was. I’m only at chapter thirteen and WOW! Sometimes I think it would be super cool to live a life like Moses and then other times I think I’d want to run as far away from it as possible!
Today as Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the desert and onto the Red Sea, I came across this little gem of a verse in Chapter 13 verse 21. (It’s at the beginning of today’s blog)
Are you feeling it too? It’s been a busy season, summer is right around the corner but all of sudden a few more things have been added to our plates. Some of them not too welcome either. It’s out of our control.
There’s been a lot of death in our city of late. Two funerals at our church in less than a week.
Sickness. The Senior Public school, across the street from my kids school, it’s flag flies at half mast again today. They have had two children die in five months; brain tumors, both. Very quick.
A child is sick with cancer in our school. This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to curl up in bed and cry. I can’t even follow the blog because it makes me too sad. Unfortunately there are another two or three like it on Facebook that I could follow too.
With all this sadness and grief around, what are we to do? Add it to the desperation of feeling so busy that our heads are spinning? When one more detail added to the enormous helping already, would put us over the edge?
Today I found great comfort that God will lead us even if the world is crashing around us or is spinning out of control. He led the Israelites by day and night. He gave them light so they could travel whenever they needed. He did not leave them alone for one second and gave them everything they needed. The pillar of smoke and the pillar of fire stayed with the Israelites, day and night.
When they started to pass through the Red Sea, it moved behind them to give them light on their side and darkness on the Egyptian side. Neither side could get near the other. God provided both light and protection for His people.
I take comfort that God never changes. He is the same today as He was back when He led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. He still navigates us through the hardships, grief, doubt and the general messiness of life. He gives both light and protection to His people.
I feel a sense of peace in this. I hope wherever this finds you today, whatever you are experiencing, that you are comforted by the fact that God is still leading us, protecting us and providing for us today, even when we don’t understand the world around us. Even more so.