When the Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, God led them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If the cloud stayed, the Israelites stayed. If the cloud moved, the Israelites moved. They didn't know how long they'd be at one place. Sometimes it was a couple of days. Sometimes it was more. Their every step was reliant on the leading of the Lord, and they had to go wherever He went no matter how long they remained in one place.
The concept of this to me is amazing! I think it's really neat that God was so interested in guiding their every step. But this also made me realize how I need to be in my walk with God.
It shows the importance of going when God says go, and staying when God says to be still. This also made me realize that there will be times when I am at one place perhaps for a longer time than I'd like to be, but it's important that I wait for God to move instead of taking matters into my own hands.
In the last devotional I wrote, I shared how God was teaching me to be faithful in the little things. He was teaching me that if I desired more responsibility I needed to be faithful with the "little" that I had been entrusted with for now. Well, when it comes to things like that, it's easy to want God to move faster. We are okay with having those "little" things for a while, but what happens when God is having us stay in one place for a longer time than we are hoping for?
As I listened to one of Joyce Meyer's sermons recently, she shared how she had been leading small Bible studies for quite some time, and she was really wanting to have that ministry grow since she knew that God had a big ministry for her... but it seemed to be taking so long! One day, she had someone come to her and tell her that if she signed up with him, she would be well known in just a few short months. This sounded so good to her flesh, but something didn't sit right with her. She didn't have peace. Thankfully she chose to follow God instead of following her flesh, but it wasn't an easy decision.
You see, when we want something so bad, there will probably be many opportunities for us to get those things our way, but if it's not God leading us, we need to wait until He tells us to move.
Personally, there have been situations where I wanted God to move, but He was clearly wanting me to wait on Him a while longer. He didn't tell me how long I was going to have to stay where He had me, but I knew it wasn't Him leading me to move on to the next place.
For Joyce Meyer, her vision for her life was a big ministry. For me, my vision is being a woman who serves God and being a wife and mom. Being a wife and mom obviously requires having a husband, and there have been many times that I've been presented with opportunities to take matters into my own hands, but something inside of me knew it wasn't God leading me to that place. God was telling me, "You can move on ahead, but this isn't Me leading you." In those moments, I had a tough decision to make. I could follow what was going to feel good now, or I could wait on God no matter how long that would be, but trust that He knew what was best. I sadly must admit that sometimes I was following begrudgingly, but God always brought me back to a place where I was following His leading once again.
Whatever your dream or vision may be, we all have something that we'd like to happen in our lives. The question is this... will we trust God to guide our every step and lead us into the place He knows is best?
Dear Heavenly Father,
As I look at how You led the Israelites, You make it clear to me the importance of following You and trusting You to guide my every step. I pray that You will give me endurance to keep waiting for You to move instead of taking it upon myself to get what I want. Help me to go when You say go and wait when You tell me to be still. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.
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