It is said that “seeing is believing”, but is that really the case? If that is true, then why are we not changed? Why do we not live differently? Maybe it has something to do with what we are seeing, what we are looking at, or where our focus might be? I’m not sure why we are not changed, radically changed especially by some of the things that we see, but that is not unique to you or to me.
I was awake in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and God put this thought in my mind. Often times we pray, but do we pray believing that God will do what is best for us? Sometimes He says “yes”, sometimes He says “no”, sometimes He says “wait”, and sometimes He says nothing at all. Why is that? Is God silent? He might seem silent at times, but is He really silent? Does not the presence of God make a difference? Do not the promises of God make a difference? Does not the faithfulness of God say something? When you take a look around at your life; when you look back over the previous days, months, and years, has God not been faithful? Ever? Does that not say something to you?
When I was awake I pulled up the Bible on my phone and in the dark of the night I started to read at the end of Exodus 13 and I began to see a constant. I continued to read chapter after chapter, and sure enough, there it was again. Exodus 13:21-22 “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” Can you imagine that? God was with them all along their journey; all the way to the land of promise. It made no difference where they found themselves, God was right there! Immediately after that we read that after releasing the Israelites, Pharaoh had a change of heart and he assembles the best of his army and pursues them with the intent of bringing them back into captivity. The Bible tells us that as God led the people out of Egypt, He did not take the short route, but rather the route that led them right up to the shores of the Red Sea. Why would God do something like that? That does not seem to be strategically smart, does it? There is always a reason. Three times in Exodus 14 it is written “I will gain glory.” That is the reason! When you don’t understand why God is doing things the way that He is doing them, know this; He will gain glory! God will be glorified!
The Israelites find themselves up against the shore of the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army is bearing down on them and the Bible tells us “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.” (Exodus 14:10) When they looked up, what did they see? The Egyptians! The enemy! The problem; a BIG PROBLEM! Where did the pillar go? Did the pillar leave them? The Israelites were looking back at the approaching Egyptians instead of keeping their eyes on the pillar, so the angel of God and the pillar of cloud move from in front of them to behind them in order to stand between them and the Egyptians. Moses tells the people to “…Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today…” (Exodus14:13) and God did exactly that. The people saw the breath of God part the waters of the Red Sea and dry the ground so that the people could walk right through the waters to the other side. The people then, after all arriving safely to the opposite shore, saw the waters come back on the army of Egypt and destroy their enemies. “That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.” (Exodus 14:30-31) Seeing is believing, right? Don’t you think that would make a believer out of anybody?
Three days later, three days later, THREE DAYS LATER, they traveled in the desert and could not find water, so they grumbled. The pillars of cloud and fire are still leading them; the presence of God has not left them, but here comes the next problem, and they grumble. God provides them with plenty of water as well as an oasis in the desert. (Exodus 15:22-27) All is good right? Because after all, seeing is believing. Not so fast! 45 days into their journey, about 6 weeks later, they are low on food and they begin to grumble and complain a little more. God tells Moses that He will give them meat and bread to eat and then tells them to gather all of the people together to hear the instructions. As Aaron is speaking, the people “…looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.” (Exodus 16:10) There it is again; the pillar of cloud. Seeing is believing, right?
Exodus 17 tells us that God continues to lead them out of the Desert of Sin and they travel from place to place and once again, they are out of water, so what do they do? They looked to the pillar of cloud, right? Wrong! They complain again. They sure have that practice down! It worked the last time. That pillar of cloud has led them to another place without water and the people are so upset that they are ready to stone Moses. God tells Moses to go to a rock in the middle of the desert, something that has nothing to do with water at all, and He tells him to strike the rock and water gushes out of the rock as the pillar of cloud stands on the side. God then gives the Israelites victory over the Amalekites and a memorial is set up for the people to observe for generations and serve as a reminder of God’s faithfulness.
We come to Exodus 18 and Moses is visited by his father-in-law Jethro and they greet each other. The first thing that Moses does is tell Jethro “…about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.” (Exodus 18:8) Moses recounted to his father-in-law the ups and the downs, but he did not forget the goodness, the greatness, and the faithfulness of God. As Moses looked at all that had happened, what did he see? The pillar of God was everywhere. God had told him that He would be with him and Moses saw it. Seeing was believing for Moses. Look at what happened when Moses told Jethro all about it: “Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. ‘He said Praise be to the LORD…'” (Exodus 18:9-10) God was glorified!!! God said that He would gain glory, and that is exactly what happened.
Those are all pretty cool stories, but what does that have to do with the problems that I am dealing with? Allow me to “put some skin on it.” The Israelites did not have the written Word of God to read all about the things that He had done. Sure they heard the stories of their fathers and forefathers, but they did not have the written Word of God. They had the pillars of cloud and fire and that had to be awesome, but what makes any of us think that we would have acted any differently than they did? Could it be that they got accustomed to having the pillars with them? We do have the written Word of God that tells us all about the faithfulness and greatness of God. We also have the experience of our own walk with Jesus. In addition to that, we also have the gift of salvation given to us by that same God that we read about in the book of Exodus through His Son Jesus. God has saved you and promised that He would continue to be with you as you take your journey. We do not have the pillars of cloud and fire, but what we do have is so much more if that is possible. We have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit; the presence of God just as He promised.
When you look around, what do you see? What is it that you are looking at? I have to wonder if the Israelites had to look around the pillar of cloud to see the things that they saw. What are you looking at? Are you ignoring the presence of God in your life? God has given us His Word to strengthen us and grow us so that we might see Him and His hand as we take this journey. Do you read it? If you’re willing to take inventory of your own life, I would encourage you to do that and then I challenge you to try to think of just one time when God failed you. Just once. Many of you have had to deal with some pretty tough stuff, things that just don’t seem fair and right. God will be glorified; even in that, God will be glorified. I want to encourage you to take the time to look around and recount the goodness of God in your own life, and then give Him thanks. Just give Him thanks! Acknowledge His presence and give Him thanks! After you have given thanks to God, share it with someone else and then watch to see how God might use that to glorify Himself. As you do that, my hope is that it will force you to rise up in a prayer of thanksgiving with your needs list set aside. God knows what you need. He knew what the Israelites needed and He took pretty good care of them. May what you see bring belief and praise and glory to God!
Praying for you!
Jerry