Title When to Stay and When to Go
When the Israelites, who had escaped from Egypt after 430 years of slavery, arrived at Mount Sinai, a glorious and glorious cloud covered the whole mountain from the top of Sinai. It is the presence of God. God made Moses go up Mt. Sinai and gave Moses the 10 Commandments stone tablets and the blueprint for the tabernacle.
One year after the Exodus, the Israelites built the tabernacle. On the day the tabernacle was erected, the glorious cloud of God covered the tabernacle. From that day on, the people of Israel marched toward the promised land <Canaan flowing with milk and honey> with this tabernacle at the center. Above the tabernacle, the cloud of God remained in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
The Israelites had to move forward when the cloud rose over the tabernacle, and stayed there when the cloud fell. And the direction the people of Israel should go in was revealed by God through Moses.
2. The Cloud Pillar Remaining
Have you ever lived in someone else's house? Anyone who has lived in someone else's house knows that even if you are sad, the sadness of not having a home is the greatest. So, the biggest wish of homeless people is that they want to own their own house, no matter how small the square footage. But what do the people of Israel, who had been slaves in a foreign country for 430 years, hope for the most? I want to own my land! Hurry up, I want to go to the promised land as soon as possible.
In the meantime, an annoying problem arose. It consists in the fact that the cloud of God does not rise, but stays there. It was because God had commanded that if the cloud stayed, the Israelites should not leave, but should remain there. But the cloud stays there for a day, two days, a month, and sometimes all year round.
3. Crazy stuffiness
For the people of Israel who were like three thorns in a day, the amount of time they stayed without knowing that the clouds would rise was indescribable and frustrating. Moreover, living in the wilderness is very difficult and dangerous. It is hot during the day and cold at night. There is no water. Deadly pests such as rattlesnakes, scorpions and tarantulas are infested. Uncomfortable beds, filth from waste disposal, and countless problems from millions of people living together in one place made it even more difficult for the people of Israel to suffer from a really crazy stuffy feeling. Day after day, the people of Israel woke up every dawn and expected that today the cloud above the tabernacle must have risen!
4. Nevertheless, what does it mean to have clouds?
The Israelites had to wait. And waited. Until the clouds rise over the tabernacle. The greater the desire to go to the Promised Land quickly, the more resentful, anxious, and even suspicious the remaining cloud became, but the Israelites stayed there and waited. Because the cloud was there, no matter how painful the situation, it meant that God was right there.
5. Messages from the text
Message 1. Sometimes you have to wait.
God sometimes makes us wait. Even when you are struggling in a swamp of dilemma that you cannot do this or that, even when you struggle in terrifying loneliness, I.M.F. In the aftermath, when the economy is difficult and difficult due to unemployment, bankruptcy, layoffs, and recession, even when we groan and cry out, or when our lives are threatened by an unwanted disease, there are times when God does not answer and tells us to just wait. There are times when we get tired of waiting for the clouds to rise, and even when our anger arises and our faith is about to fade, there are times when there is no answer. But, nevertheless, we must bow down and wait at such times. The cloud is there because God is still there.
It is said that under the world there is a time for everything, and there is a time for every purpose to be fulfilled. A time to build and a time to destroy, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to go and a time to stay. A dragon who is about to ascend to the sky lies down in a stream and waits for a thousand years. Moses waited 40 years as a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian to be called by God, Samuel waited from the time he was weaned until the day he heard God's voice under the priest Eli, and David had several opportunities to kill Saul, but God allowed him. He waited for the right time and lived a bitter exile.
Message 2. There is a time to leave
There are times when clouds rise. We must believe that God is preparing the best times for us. You must have this belief. This belief is important. There are times when you have to leave. There are times when you have to move. You will have to climb like an eagle on the day the cloud of God rises.
Message 3. Should I Stay Now? need to move
Fortunately for the Israelites, God's cloud announced that it would leave and stay. But today we do not have that cloud. I know from the text that there is a time to stay and a time to go, but specifically, should we stay now? How can I get guidance on the issue of Should I Leave?
The answer is only the words of the snow scene and prayer. Read the Bible. Research it. If you look and look again, God will let you know the time through the Holy Spirit. And when we pray and pray again, He gives us unshakable assurance. Whether you wait or leave. These words are not in a conventional sense, but are my experiential testimony.