Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
During the time of Israel’s wilderness wandering, God made His presence known through the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. When the cloud moved, the people of God were to move with it. When the cloud stopped, they were to stay put. Sadly, the people kept looking away from the cloud and onto the crowd.
The crowd complained about the leadership. The crowd complained about the menu. The crowd even wanted to go back to Egypt, where they had been slaves for 450 years and cried out to God, imploring Him to set them free (Exodus 2:23). Bottom line: These were a people who were rumbling, stumbling, and grumbling all the way to the Promised Land. They sought to satisfy their will rather than the will of God. In losing sight of God’s perfect plan for their imperfect lives, they shifted their focus away from the cloud and where God was leading them, and put it on the crowd, which led to suffering and sorrow.
We face the same challenges today that God’s people faced back then. There are countless crowd voices and noises calling us to walk in the ways of the world. We are bombarded by all manner of media voices enticing us and encouraging us to turn away from God and embrace the ways of this world.
But this is not for you! We can be sure that many of the Israelites were telling Moses what to do, where to go, and how to get there. But Moses stayed faithful to God. In his humility and obedience to God’s instructions, he followed the cloud, no matter where it led.
How is it with you today? Are you following the cloud? Or the crowd? Are you listening to the voice of Jesus or the voices of this world? The more time you spend each day sitting at the feet of Jesus, the better you will be able to follow Him wherever He is leading you.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 