Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall encamp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it. “Those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Judah shall be Nahshon the son of Amminadab.”
(Numbers 2:1-3)

“Let God arise!
    Let his enemies be scattered!
    Let them who hate him also flee before him.
As smoke is driven away,
    so drive them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
    so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
But let the righteous be glad.
    Let them rejoice before God.
    Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.
Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!
    Extol him who rides on the clouds:
to Yah, his name!
    Rejoice before him!“
(Psalm 68:1-4)

When the cloud over the tabernacle lifted up and moved, the tribe of Judah went first. When the priests saw the cloud moving, the horns would be blown and Judah packed up and followed it. If the cloud didn’t lift up and move, they stayed where they were. Their travelling, their cessation from travelling, and the length of their stay in a given spot were all determined by the Lord.

God knew their needs. He filled them by taking them to where the grazing was. Where the water was. Where He could show them His supernatural care. Where He could show them His wisdom and guidance. Where He could correct them and get them ready to stand on their own. Not as slaves, but as children of God – His chosen people. They learned to be led by Him. To rely on Him. And to see Him as their loving Father. He showed His trustworthiness again and again. When He moved, they were always ready.

Summary

We need to look to the Lord BEFORE we make decisions. We must ask Him which way we’re to go. For some things, we’ll be told to do whatever we like. Other times, we’ll be told to do a specific thing – sometimes for reasons that we don’t understand. We don’t NEED to understand. What we NEED is to make sure that we are going where He says, doing what He says, and staying right in the middle of His will. We do that because that is where all the BEST things are!