Our church has just completed a series through the book of Exodus. I had the privilege of starting the series with an overview and introduction to the book. I also had the privilege of completing the series with a look back as we came to the end of chapter 40. At the start we saw how God’s people were called to step out in faith into situations that they might have felt unprepared and unready for. Two examples spring to mind. First, Moses’ parents take a step of faith placing him in a little ark, a basket and then placing that ark into the waters of death, the River Nile. Then the Israelites as a nation have to step out of faith, stepping into the Red Sea, trusting God to take them through to the other side. How were they able to do that?
The answer is found at the end of the book. When Moses has finished preparing the Tabernacle, the Glory of God comes down on the tent with such great thickness that Moses cannot enter it. The cloud of God’s glory remains on the Tabernacle until it is time to move on. The people did not move until the cloud moved. How could God’s people step out in faith? The answer was that they never got ahead of God.
This is true for us as well. There will be times in life when we feel like we are in a hurry to move on. This might be true both for church decisions and for individual circumstances. However, we must wait. We should not try to get ahead of God. There will be other times when moving forward will mean taking a step of faith that we will feel completely unready for. Yet, if we are following the Lord’s lead, keeping in the step with the Spirit, knowing his presence ahead of us, then we need not fear taking that step of faith.
