God In Charge Of Everything

Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash

Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. In this way, they traveled and camped at the Lord’s command wherever he told them to go. Then they remained in their camp as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle. If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites stayed and performed their duty to the Lord. Sometimes the cloud would stay over the Tabernacle for only a few days, so the people would stay for only a few days, as the Lord commanded. Then at the Lord’s command they would break camp and move on. Sometimes the cloud stayed only overnight and lifted the next morning. But day or night, when the cloud lifted, the people broke camp and moved on. Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on. So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses. -Numbers 9:17-23

Over and over I imagine these people setting up camp and moving camp. I see them just waiting on God to move so that they too can pack up all their stuff and move with Him. I envision mothers with children, fathers with big responsibilities moving up and down, here and there over and over because they refuse to follow anyone else but God. Their entire lives revolve around what God tells them to do. They don’t make any decisions without God leading the way. But what’s even more impressive is these people didn’t know what was coming. They had no set future. Their plans were God’s plans and they depended on His direction day by day. There was no guarantee that they had tomorrow in the same place!

This all sounds impossible today. In a time where people plan weeks or months in advance. When society tells us to fill up our calendars with events and plans. How on earth could this be a way of life for us? Well, aside from listening to God and waiting on Him to move, this is our life. When we strip away all of our earthly ideas and good plans to accomplish this and that we are left with God’s plan for us. Where ever we are, His way will prevail. We can either go willingly, or kicking and screaming. We can hold tightly to our possessions, but God will take them when its time. No one wants to imagine it, but our loved ones may not be here tomorrow, along with our home, or our jobs and life as we know it. At any time life can change for us. Just like these people who willingly let God make their plans and change their day, our life will change too, it’s just a matter of whether or not we will hold on too tightly or we will give up control and let God be in charge of everything.