Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes

Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp. -- Numbers 9:17

When God led the Hebrews out of slavery, he gave them a great vision of going home to the Promised Land. God did not say they may get there, or if they are careful they'll get there. God promised they would get there. When things looked frightening along the way in the wilderness, Moses would simply remind the people, and God, of this promise.

We tend to think that the present is the only thing that is certain and the future is a great mystery. But our faith calls us to believe just the opposite. Biblically, it is the future that is certain, and the present that is a mystery.

Along the way to the Promised Land the people got so confused, divided, and idolatrous that God chose to journey with them in a cloud. When the cloud moved, the people moved; and when it stopped moving, the people stayed in the cloud. So the people were not called to make it to the Promised Land, but simply to seek the Lord every day along the way. He alone would bring them into the future.

Whenever you seek the Lord, you are always in a cloud. It is hard to see how you are going to make it home. It is hard even to see yourself. Frankly, in the Lord's cloud it is hard to see anything but the Lord. But if you can see him, you are already home.

-- Craig Barnes