FBC Daily Devotional – May 12, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good Wednesday to you, middle of the week, and hope your week is going well and getting everything done you need to do this week, accomplishing the projects at work, at home.

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I trust all is going well for you. Well, are you familiar with the hymn, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah?

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We sang it a few weeks ago in church. I promise I am NOT going to sing it for you today.

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I would not do that to you. Some of you may be listening to that first thing and listening to this first thing in the morning, and that would just...

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I'm sure that would just mess up your day for the rest of your day. So I promise I won't do that to you. But I do want to allude to it.

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You know the basis for that hymn, right? It has to do with the Lord's working and guiding the children of Israel throughout the wilderness experience.

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So, for example, in the first stanza, it says, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land.

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Children of Israel. I mean, we're reading the book of Numbers. We finished a few weeks back the book of Exodus.

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The children of Israel are going through this barren land of the wilderness. And so he's playing on that.

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The hymn writer is playing on that experience. I'm weak, but you're mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand.

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Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. That, of course, is an allusion to the

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Lord giving manna to Israel when they were so hungry. And then in the next stanza, it says,

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Open now thy crystal fountain, hence the healing waters flow. That, of course, is a reference to the time when the people were thirsty, there was no water, and the

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Lord told Moses, Strike the rock, and the water gushed forth, and they had plenty to drink, and so forth.

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But then there's this line, and this ties in with our reading in Numbers chapter 9, 8 and 9 today, particularly chapter 9.

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It says, Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through.

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Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through. And the rest of that hymn goes on through other phases of that wilderness wandering, and even the last stanza,

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I think, can be subject to some interpretational challenges. But nonetheless, it says,

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When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside. Bear me through the swelling current, land me safe on Canaan's side.

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And I think the hymn writer there is trying to draw the parallel of crossing the

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Jordan and going into heaven, as if when the people of Israel crossed the

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Jordan, they went into paradise. Well, that wasn't the case. It was more like the beginning, really, of the

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Christian life. But anyhow, I want to zero in on that, let the fire and the cloudy pillar.

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Why? Because in Numbers chapter 9, you have the foundation for that stanza in the hymn, where in the center of the encampment of the children of Israel was the tabernacle.

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And we talked about that already, how all the tribes, you know, the twelve tribes, three tribes were on each side of that tabernacle, with the tabernacle in the middle of the camp.

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And then whatever they set out to journey to the next spot, you know, two groups of tribes would set out, and then the tabernacle, the

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Levites carrying the different parts of the tabernacle, would set out, and then the last two groups of tribes, so that the tabernacle was always in the central part of the people of Israel, communicating

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God is central to his people. But this cloud, this cloud, a cloud by day, a fire by night, symbolized the

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Lord's presence, and that cloud was also the means whereby the

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Lord guided the Israelites through that wilderness experience. When the cloud lifted off the tabernacle, everybody got the message, it's time to pack up, we're heading out.

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And then that cloud would move ahead of them and lead them on to the next place, and where the cloud stopped, the tribes would, you know, the tribes were on the east and the south side, they would find their place, the tabernacle would be set up underneath that cloud, and the other tribes set up around it, and then the cloud would descend and rest on that tabernacle again.

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And as long as the cloud was on the tabernacle, they stayed put. Next time the cloud lifted, they knew it was time to pack up and go.

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And sometimes they would be, they would be there for a couple of days. Other times it might be a much longer period of time when they're just camped.

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The point was that the Israelites needed to learn, and we need to as well.

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We must keep our eyes on the Lord. We must get our guidance from Him.

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Now, some of us might say, boy, I wish I had a cloudy pillar. I wish

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I had a pillar of fire to make all my decisions for me.

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It would be so much easier. Yeah, yeah, I guess I suppose in one way it would. But the

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Lord has given us His Word, and remember, the people of Israel didn't have the

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Bible like we have it. They had very little, very, very little. You realize that?

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You ever stop to think about that? In this wilderness wandering, the only thing the people of Israel had was what

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Moses was communicating to them. They had no written word. So they desperately needed the guidance and the constant presence in a very tangible way of the

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Lord's guidance. So what do we have? What's our cloudy pillar? What's our pillar of fire? It's His Word, and it's the

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Spirit of God, who by the way, remember, came as fire upon His disciples in Acts chapter 2.

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But what is it that we have? We have the Word, and we have the Spirit of God taking the

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Word and applying it to our lives and using the Word to speak to us and guide us through our pilgrimage in this life.

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So while we don't have a literal cloud and a pillar of fire, we do have it in a figurative sense, in that the

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Lord has given us the guidance that we need. As Peter tells us, we have all that we need for life and godliness, and God has given it to us in His promises and His Word.

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And so let's look to that. Let's keep our eyes on that, on His Word, and we take our eyes off of Him and His Word to our own detriment.

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So let's be sure our focus is where it ought to be. Keep our eyes on the cloud, on the cloud.

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Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for giving us your Word, providing it for us to give us direction, and I pray that we would pay attention to that which you've given to us and be obedient.

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And when your Word tells us it's time to go here, it's time to stop here, it's time to go there, it's time to stop there.

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I pray that we would listen, help us to be attentive, we pray in Jesus name and for His sake.

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All right. Well, have a good rest of your Wednesday again tonight at 7 o 'clock. We meet together for Bible study and prayer time.

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Have a kid's time together at 645. You can join us for that midweek service time. We welcome you.