Living Each Day At the Lord’s Command (Numbers 9)

Numbers 9:18 At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.

The commands of God not only governed what Israel did but where they went and when they went. God put His cloud over the tabernacle during the day and His fire over it by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up, they would move. When it stopped, they stopped.

They stayed as long as God’s cloud stayed – whether it was two days, a month, or a year (v.22). Each night, they went to bed not knowing if they would be leaving in the morning or if they would be staying on another year.

What a great picture of how our lives on this earth ought to be – daily looking to the Lord for direction, following Him each and every day, staying when He wants us to stay and moving when He wants us to move.