We're going to turn again to those passages that we read just a little earlier, perhaps in particular to Numbers chapter 9. Let our Bibles open and seek the help of God in prayer as we come before him. Our Father in heaven, we do thank thee for thy precious words that we laid together this morning. We ask that thou give us that understanding of the sense of it even as we come to consider it, that we might know what it is that the Lord has said, what it implies in our own life and our devotions to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that thou would speak to us through thy Spirit, that thy Holy Spirit might lead and guide us in those pathways of righteousness. Thy word informs us that we are to call upon thee. the Spirit of God might be our teacher, and lead us in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ. May that be the case this morning, and may thy word have that benefit to our souls. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. In Numbers chapter 9 and verse 23, we read that the commandment of the Lord, they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses." We've read two portions of scripture this morning that tell us of the guidance of God to the children of Israel, how they were led by that pillar of cloud and fire. The subject I want to deal with this morning is concerning the guidance of God. It's something that we all look for. It's something that we all ask about. Perhaps one of the most frequent questions that I had to address when I was university chaplain back in Belfast were young people coming to me and asking, how can I know the guidance of God? How can I know the will of God for my life? That question came in a number of varieties. Again, should I get married? And if I should get married, should it be to Bill or John or Jack? Should it be to Mary or to Martha or any other lady you choose to marry? Who should I marry? Should I marry, you know? Being a university chaplain, I was often asked, should I enrol for another course? Should I continue my studies? Should I go to this university or that university? Should I stay here in Ulster or go across the seas to England or Scotland or Wales? Maybe you've been offered a new job, a good job, but it's too far away from home. Should you take it? Should you turn it down? If you're asking the question, is God calling me to the mission field? How can I be certain when God is guiding me? How can I know the will of God? How can I have His guidance in my life? Perhaps this morning finds you at a major crossroads in your life, and you can go straight ahead, or you can turn to the left, or you can turn to the right, or you can go back the way that you came. What way should we go? What should we do? Well, know this morning that the Bible that you hold in your hand is a book of God's revealed will. And in response to all of those questions that we might ask about what we should do, or how we should do it, or where we should go, God's word has something to say to us about the knowing of his will. This is a book that explains not only who God is, but how he works, and how he relates to his people. and explains to us, not just in general principles, but shows us clearly over and over again that God most certainly guides his children. And we know that God not only guides his children, but he shows us how he does it. There is perhaps no more basic or more fundamental question for the Christian The look which fell from the lips of Saul of Tarsus when he was confronted that day by the Lord Jesus Christ. He cried out from his blinded state, Lord, what would thou have me to do? What would you have me to do? Where would you have me to go? It's the most basic question that any Christian could ever ask. Lord, what is your will for my life? What do you want me to do? Show me the way and give me the will to go that way. I think that in our better moments as Christians, that it is our chief desire to please the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that we want more earnestly than to have the approval of God upon our lives, to know that when we stand before the Saviour on that great and wonderful day, that we hear the words spoken to us, well done, good and faithful servant. It is our chief desire to please our Saviour, to do that which is most important in God's And deep in our heart we know that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Well, if only we could know what God wanted from us, we would be glad to do it. And we would do it with all of our heart. If only we had some way of knowing what vow God would have me to do. I think we all live with the fear that we get to the end of our lives and we look back on the things that we have accomplished and the things that we have done, to look back with worry and regret and to say that we have wasted that which the Lord has given to us. We fear the prospect of standing before God only to hear Him say, you did well in the things that you chose to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't the things that I wanted from you. We all have that secret fear that the Lord will say to us, you did well but you missed out on the best things. And so this question of discovering the will of God for our lives and knowing his guidance upon us touches the ultimate issues of our life. Does God still guide his people? Can I, as a mere mortal, ever discover what Almighty God would have me to do? How can I bring the reality of God into my daily life so that I know that I'm walking with God each day, that I'm walking with Him, I'm not away from Him? And you've asked the question, where is God? You have tough decisions to make. You're presented with difficult choices and you don't know which way to turn and you're asking, where is God? Does He still guide? Can I still count upon the Lord to help me? Well, there are many places we could have turned to this morning in our Bibles to find the guidance of God illustrated But I think the passages that we've read this morning show us most clearly the guidance of God for his people. And it's seen in the story of this fiery cloud that led the children of Israel. The nation of Israel had left the land of Egypt behind, had left behind the house of bondage, their striking fort for the promised land. And as they are about to cross the Red Sea, as they make their way towards Mount Sinai, as they press on towards that promised land, something amazing happens. The children of Israel, not knowing which way to turn, the desert is behind them, the Red Sea is before them, the Egyptians are pressing down upon them, and they're fearful. They don't know what way to turn. Many of them are suggesting they should never have left Egypt at all. They don't know where they're going or how they're going to get there. And then God answers their concerns. He sends a fiery pillar of cloud to guide them on their way. During the day, the pillar appeared as a cloud in the sky that led them. During the night seasons, This cloudy pillar appeared as a pillar of fire, providing them with a visible and unmistakable guidance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All they have to do is follow the cloud, follow the fiery pillar, and God will lead them. When we read together in Numbers chapter 9, we found an explanation of how this pillar of fire actually worked in the lives of the children of Israel. On the day that the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, was set up, we are told that this fiery cloud covered it. And when the cloud covered the tent of the testimony, the people remained where they were. However, when the starry cloud would lift from off the tent of the tabernacle, the children of Israel would strike down the camp, they would pack their belongings together and they would follow the cloud. So it was at the Lord's command that they camped and it was at the Lord's command that they set forth. They simply followed the cloud. When the cloud moved, they moved. When the clouds settled, they settled. And the children of Israel were led to the promised land day by day by the presence of God in this starry cloud. Now, what does this mean for you and I? Well, I think there are some lessons here that explains to us how God guides his people. And the first thing I would suggest to you is this, that the guidance of God is revealed to us One step at a time. Numbers chapter 9 makes that very clear. The cloud would lift and the people would go. And as long as the cloud kept moving, they kept moving. When the cloud stopped, they stopped. If it stopped for a night, they stopped for a night. If it stopped for two nights, they stopped for two nights. If it rose again the next morning and started moving, then they followed it again. And whether it moved for a day or two days at a time, or whether it stopped for a day or a week or a month or a year, whatever it might be, the children of Israel followed this fiery cloud. But the thing is this, they never knew from one day to the next what the cloud was going to do. They didn't know whether the cloud was going to go forth today or whether it was going to remain. So they had to follow the cloud day by day. And it's precisely at this point where we have our number one problem when it comes to knowing the will of God. You see, we think about knowing the will of God, it means discovering the future. We think that God should unroll the scroll of our life before us in order that we might see the beginning and the end and everything in between and we know everything about the future that lies ahead. The only problem is God doesn't normally work that way. Now I do believe that God has a blueprint for our life. I just don't know where we're going to get a copy of it. God guides us today exactly the same way as he guided his people here in the Old Testament. He guided them day by day and step by step. There's a wonderful verse found in the Psalms, Psalm 119 verse 105, that says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. and a light onto my path. And the picture there is of the traveller holding a little lamp before him. And if you've ever walked with a lamp, you know that it doesn't cast a beam the way that a torch was. It shines its light out in a circle and it just gives a little glow. And as the traveller walks with the lantern before him, All he can see is the little bit of light that's shed on the next step. But the wonderful thing is, when he takes his step into where the light is shining, the lamp burn goes before him. And it reveals the next step. And if he follows the second step, the light of the lamp goes another step ahead of him. And he follows the light one step at a time. He goes where the light And as soon as he takes his step into the light, then it reveals the next step before it. The light, of course, is the light of God's guidance. And the reason that we get tripped up so often is because we want to see ten steps in front of us. Well, the Lord very rarely shows us ten steps ahead. He'll show us the next step. And when we are obedient to what the Lord has shown to us, and we take that step of obedience into the light that He has shown, then He will reveal the next step. He will lead us a step at a time. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. God leads His people one step at a time. So don't think that knowing God's will means knowing the whole span of your life in advance. That's not how God reveals his will to his children. It's a step at a time, a day at a time. Now there's another lesson for us here, and it's this, that God's guidance demands our obedience whether it makes sense to us or not. You see when I read Numbers chapter 9 I get the feeling that Moses as he writes these verses is displaying a little bit of frustration. He goes to great pains to let us know that sometimes the cloud would suddenly move or on other occasions suddenly stop without any explanation. Sometimes they would stay in one place for a long time and then they would suddenly move And then on other occasions they would stop only for a night before setting off the next stage. And many days the pattern of their journeys didn't make sense to them at all. One day they'd be moving, the next day they'd be stopping. They'd have been moving three days in a row and then they'd stop for a week or a month. Didn't all this make sense? Sometimes God will keep us moving when we would rather stop. Maybe you've got a place in your life and you're happy and you're settled and you're content. You have your job and your family around you. You've got money and the bank. You've got everything going for you. And then God says, time to move. I want you to take down the camp and follow me. And you're thinking, Lord, can we not just camp here a while longer? But the cloud begins to move, and you have to follow. Sometimes the Lord would have us move, and we would rather stay. Of course, the others weigh around us too at all. There are times that we would rather move, but the Lord says, no, I want you to stay where you are. You have to follow the cloud. Can you imagine what it was like to wander in the wilderness for 40 years? There you are, year 23, only 17 more years to go, and for the last 40 years it seems you've been moving around in circles in the desert, and finally the cloud stops. You're just somewhere south of Kurdishbergia, and the cloud has finally stopped, and you set up your camp, and you get your tent erected, You find some stones and you make a temporary sheepfold for your little flock. You think to yourself, well, it looks like we'll be here for a while. There's a little oasis just over the next hill. You can get water each morning. You have everybody settled in for the night. The campfire's on, the food is cooking, the flocks have been tended to, the water's been gathered in, everyone's settling down. And the Faraday pillar begins to move again. And you're thinking, we've just got here. Lord, what are you doing? It's said that there was an old Hebrew proverb that the pilgrim wasn't to put his tent page down too deeply. That they could be moving again in the morning. Sometimes we're moving when we'd rather be staying. Sometimes we're staying when we'd rather be moving. Sometimes the cloud and the pillar would stay in the same place for days or weeks or months or even a year. But what was required of the children of Israel? Obedience. God's guidance demanded their obedience, whether it made sense to them or not. Sometimes God moved them when they wanted to stay, and told them to stay when they wanted to do what was required that they obeyed God. It didn't have to make sense to them, and sometimes it won't. But we know as for God, his ways are perfect. And we follow the guidance of God as he leads us, whether it makes sense to us or not. There's another lesson, a third lesson here. The guidance of God changed character according to the need of the moment. During the day, they needed to see a cloud in the sky. And what they saw was a cloud. At night time, the dark had settled upon them and the cloud would be invisible in the night sky. It appeared as a pillar of fire. God had one way of revealing himself during the day time. He had another way of revealing himself during the night season. That leads us to this conclusion. God's guidance was always there, but his means of guiding changed from moment to moment. It changed as the moment required. And when we think about the implication of that, it means that God is not obligated to lead you in the same way as he leads me. He's not obligated to speak to you in the same way as he speaks to somebody else. He's not obligated to deal with you the same way today as perhaps what he did yesterday. My old minister, Dr Cook, used to say that we ought not to be guilty of putting God in a box. In other words, don't be constraining God by telling him what he can do and what he can't. That he has to deal with us the same way today as he did yesterday, or the same way as he dealt with other people. They tell me that every snowflake that falls is different from every other. That there's an infinite variety amongst the snowflakes. That's because our God is infinitely powerful and infinitely creative. And for us to restrict God as to how he can work and how he should work and why he should work is us putting God in a box as a God of our own making. We can't do that. We can't do that. And while we may be tempted to think that because God dealt with my friend this way that he must deal with me the same way, it's not necessarily true. Or because God answered this prayer in such a fashion that he'll answer my prayer the same way. God says, no deal. I don't work that way. As the need, so God provided it. During the day they needed a cloud in the sky. God gave them a cloud in the sky. During the night season, a cloud's not going to work. A fiery pillar was needed. How does God guide his people today? Sometimes He leads us directly through His Word. We open the Scriptures and we find the guidance that we need there in black and white before us. On other occasions it may be through the advice of Christian friends. Another day God's will will be revealed to us as we commune with Him in prayer. Or there will be impressions placed upon us as God molds us and shapes us and guides us. There'll be inner convictions. There'll be a sense of peace when we are following the will of God. Let me tell you something, if you're doing something that you believe to be the will of God and there's no peace about it, it's probably not the will of God. Maybe the circumstances around us will be shaped by God's hands. Other times we'll simply cry unto the Lord and in our depth of our despair we'll cry with tears for that understanding and that wisdom to be given to us. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Let's give it to all men liberally and that breatheth love. We ask God for the wisdom to make the right decision. Let me make a combination of all of these things. advice and prayer and Bible reading and inner peace and conviction and circumstances. The important point is this. Our God, being infinitely creative, can lead each and every one of us individually in the right way that we need to go. All we need is obedience. We need to be obedient. The Lord is not going to reveal to us steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 until we have first completed step 1. He's not going to do it. We need obedience, day by day obedience. That leads me to my final point. The Lord's guidance was revealed to the children of Israel as they stayed close to Him. See, the Old Testament reveals to us very clearly that the cloud, this fiery pillar, that had represented the very presence of God, wasn't just a mere symbol. It was God's presence amongst His people. It's referred to as the Shekinah Glory. When the people saw that very pillar descend upon the tabernacle and rest over the tent of God's holiness, they knew that God was in the camp. At Mount Sinai, when the Lord gave his law to his people, the Lord spoke to Moses from the cloud. When the people saw this fiery cloud, they understood that God himself was in their midst. It was God who was leading them. When the fiery pillar arose from off the tabernacle and began to set forth, and as they followed it, they were following God himself. What that means is if the cloud went north and you went south, You were going to find yourself in trouble because you were separating yourself from the presence of God. You know what that tells me? That knowing the will of God, it's not a matter of geography, where you should go. It's not a question of what you should be doing. or who you should be married, or if you should be married at all. It's not a question of whether I should take this job, or that job, or how many children I ought to have, or whether I should be a missionary or a minister. Those are important questions, but they are secondary questions. The primary question is this, are you following God wherever He leads you, day by day? When we cry out to the Lord saying, Lord show me what to do. The Lord is saying back to us, my son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. Stay close to me. When we say to the Lord, give me the answers of it. The Lord says walk with me. Follow me. Follow me day by day. Follow me even though the world looks upon us foolishly. Follow me even when it doesn't seem to make sense to you. Follow me. Give me your heart. That's why I like what it says at the end of verse 23 there in Numbers 9. At the commandment of the Lord, they rested in the tents. And at the commandment of the Lord, they journeyed. You really want to know the guidance of God in your life. Get to know God better. Get to know him more intimately. Walk closer with him. Abide in his presence. Follow the cloud and God will reveal his will to you step by step and day by day. Do you know what that will mean then for your decision making? It means when you need to know the right way to go, you will know it. When it comes time to make that decision, you will have everything that you need in order to make the right and wise decision. The question really is this, am I ready and willing to follow God? Am I going to stay close to Him? Am I willing to put God first in everything that I seek to do? To seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, knowing that all these other things shall be added on to me. All these other things. That includes knowing the right thing at the right time. It's seeking first the kingdom of God. And if we will do that, if we will stay beneath that fiery cloud and pillar, we will know the will of God each day of our lives. And we can go forth from this building this morning in the confidence that not only does God guide His people, but if we are willing to follow Him, He will guide me. How can we be so sure? Because the Bible tells us that. This God, the God of the cloud and of the prairie pillar, is our God. He's the one who changes not. And just as He was a guide to the children of Israel, He will be a guide to us. But only as we're willing to follow Him, and stay close to Him, and obey Him. and day by day walk in the light of his presence. May God's word continue to be a light and a lamp to our steps. May the Lord guide us. May we know his will in every area and aspect of our lives. And may we make it our supreme desire to seek him first, his kingdom and his righteousness.