When was the last time you followed something or someone without question? Do you make a practice of it? Do you avoid it at all costs?

And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people if Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped.

Numbers 9:17 (ESV)

No questions asked, when God moved, Israel moved. And this wasn’t just a few people with a couple of animals. It is estimated that over 2 million people fled Egypt with all their animals and belongings. Now, a year later, that number had surely increased.

Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in the camp and did not set out, but when it lifted, they set out.

Numbers 9:22 (ESV)

Can you imagine having just settled 2 million people in a camp and then having to pack it all up and move again? Over and over again, when the cloud moved, Israel moved. No questions asked. After all, this was the very same God who had, just a year ago, delivered them out of Egypt.

When Israel forgot who they were, they got stuck. They became enslaved.

When Israel remembered who they were, they moved. They were free.

When God tells us to move and we move, we are not following blindly – not if we know and understand His Word. When God tells us to move and we move, we are being obedient because we know who we are following and what He is all about.

We have a covenant with God. An agreement that suggests all parties involved have come to an arrangement whereby, if one should not hold up their end of the bargain, the other doesn’t have to either. God’s not going to change. He won’t break the agreement.

When we choose not to follow God, we separate ourselves from our sacred covenant. We forget who we are and become enslaved by things we have no business associating with. But when we remember who we are and the covenant we have with God through Christ, we  are free.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17b (ESV)

We follow God because we know that He has a plan and purpose for us that is far greater than our own. We follow God because we have a book that is filled with His promises for us. We follow God because He loves us and we love Him.

Daily Bible reading: Numbers 8-10, Mark 5:1-20