RTW February 14
Follow The Leader
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.
Numbers 9:21
My Takeaways
Something Old
The central theme of Obey me, Trust me, continues.
Something New
When the cloud moved, Israel moved; when the cloud stayed, Israel stayed.
They only went where the presence of God led them, and they only stayed where the presence of God stayed.
Believers today must, in the same way, be led by the presence of God; when Paul says let the peace of God rule in your hearts (Colossians 3:15) he means the presence of God’s peace is to be an umpire or a judge in our hearts.
Something to Do
Follow my Leader.
Exodus 40:9-12 is a type and foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit!
The Father creates a plan, Jesus Christ implements the plan, and the Holy Spirit administers the plan.
The Holy Spirit is the “anointing oil”, He through Moses administered God’s plan in verse 9. Verse 11, anoint the washbasin, the Holy Spirit is compared to “water”.
Ephesians 5:26…cleansed by water, the word “water” is symbolic, referring to the Word of God, as well as the Holy Spirit.
The anointing oil as well as water has revitalizing, nourishing, cleansing, purifying and sanitizing properties to them. We are washed by the water of the Word by God through the Holy Spirit, to purify and cleanse us.
The Samaritan, in Luke 10:34, treated the man’s wounds with oil, it had a purifying effect on him.
The Plan, implementation of the Plan, administration of the Plan, as described in Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me….
The power of the Trinity working with us, in us and through us!
Loved your insights, thanks for sharing.
Do I follow God or do I ask Him to follow me? Yikes. Even with the things that I KNOW God is calling me to – I jump in at my own pace and in my own timing instead of following His direction. I move and then invite Him along. Lord – give me wisdom and willingness to be still. To hear Your voice and follow Your direction. You are my Leader.
~Something Old: It must have been comforting to the people to have the visible presence of God, day and night.
~Something New: Ex 40:38 “They did whatever the LORD told them through Moses”
While we are not to follow our spiritual leaders blindly, we are to follow them and their instruction in the Lord.
~Something To Do: Be a Berean, but follow the leading of my pastor.
Thank God for the presence of the Holy Spirit within me.
I’ve had the question of, “how long did it take to build the tabernacle?”, in my mind for a few days now. Took the time to look it up today. It seems like it was approx. 7 months. Here’s a helpful article if anyone else had this same question
https://jaymack.net/exodus-commentary/Hf-Then-the-LORD-said-to-Moses-Set-Up-the-Tabernacle.asp
I had that same question and looked it up. My source said about 6 and a half months from October to March. It took an entire morning to put the tabernacle back up or an entire evening. Except for the Ark and alters which the Priest carried on their shoulders, the rest fit in ox-drawn carts.
Oh my goodness!!!! That song totally popped into my head while I was reading! Biblical truth in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs !!!! ???We’re following the leader, the ,the leader, we’re following the leader wherever he may go?????
Good Grief! The song is from Peter Pan girls! Sorry bout that!
Such an exciting day in today’s reading. The Tabernacle is completed! Can you imagine the anticipation in the camp as Moses was assembling it all.The excitement of seeing the tabernacle “come together” must have been great, but waiting for the exact timing of this to happen must have been even harder. There was a particular day determined by God for this momentous occasion to occur. It was to be the first day of the first month of the second year. Obedience with regard to the carrying out of God’s instructions. Ten times in todays reading I read “just as a LORD had commanded him” Moses did exactly as God commanded him (vv.38:43, 40:16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32). The physical assembly of the tabernacle required a long list of tasks and each was important to God. There are many seemingly unimportant tasks that need to be done to keep God’s work progressing. I just need to be willing to do whatever God has for me to do, whenever He wants me to do it.
The glory of God in the tabernacle was so awesome that even Moses could not enter the tabernacle. The cloud had a very practical function – that of guiding the Israelites on their way to the promised land.The Holy Spirit ministers to me today as the cloud once ministered to Israel. The Holy Spirit abides within me as the cloud used to abide within the tabernacle. The Holy Spirit also gives guidance to me as the cloud guided the Israelites. What an wesome read today.
AMEN!
IFid Moses set up the tabernacle each time and did he do this alone
I wondered if he had help and who took it down
What an example of obedience
The Israelites were more focused on obedience than comforts. They could have complained each time they had to move and set up the Tabernacle again but they didn’t. God wants total obedience, not partial obedience.