I hope that each of you are having a wonderful week. Have you been doing my challenge this week? Did you spend a few minutes each morning listening and waiting for God to lead you? In my personal studies I was reading Exodus 38 which ends with God descending like a cloud upon the Tent of Meeting that the Israelites built according to God's instructions. When the cloud was upon the tent, the Israelites stayed where they were (at this point they are still in the desert and not yet at the promised land). When the cloud lifted, signifying God's departure, the people moved on their journey. What a wonderful visual of Monday's Scripture card. The cloud was filled with fire (light) by night. They were content to stay where God was and left to search Him out when He wasn't with them. We should also be willing to drop what we are doing and search Him out when we find ourself without Him. In addition, I can't imagine the desert being a pleasant place to be under normal circumstances. The Israelites had left Egypt, a land where there was plenty of food, water, entertainment and riches, to live in a desert in which food must have been scarce if God had to provide them with quail in the evenings and manna in the mornings at one point. Granted, at this time they had herds of animals as evidenced by God's command to make sacrifices of bulls, goats, and sheep, but I doubt it was as plentiful as they may have been used to. How many times have you found yourself in a position that isn't as comfortable as you were used to?
For me it has been this past year. My husband was laid off of work at a job he really enjoyed. One that had excellent benefits, good hours, and allowed him to occassionally meet with me for a lunch date. However, due to the economy there were cutbacks, and he was one of the newest employees and as a result one of the first to go. At first I was upset. We had just found out we were expecting another baby and I didn't know how we were going to survive. I started looking for ways to make things work. Was I going to have to go back to work? Was my husband going to have to work more than one job again and put a strain on our marriage because we didn't see each other? Finally I stopped worrying and put my trust in God. I was going to be where He was. From that point on I didn't worry. I asked God to show us what He wanted and then we did what He asked. During this past year we went on more dates with each other than ever before. My marriage was strengthened. The money we had seemed to keep growing, to the point that we were not only able to take care of our own family for the year, but we were able to financially help another family as well. That could only be the work of God. I stayed where God was, in unemployment, in faith. As a result He took care of us.
Are you looking for where God is? Are you following Him? Trust me, life is much better if you are! After all, He tells us, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:25-26) If God takes care of the birds, and we are more valuable to Him than they, He will take care of us also. You just have to be where He is so that He can take care of you.
