Ex 40:35-38, And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.   
	As we finish our reading of the Book of Exodus, we come to the final verses filled with the truth that God was guiding the Israelites by the glory of His presence in the cloud that was on the tabernacle by day and the pillar of fire that was over it by night. This was to show that the Lord God Almighty was with His Chosen people day and night, ever showing them the manner of their journey to the Promised Land. 
	One of the aspects of this leading forth of the Children of Israel by God was that they had to learn to wait for Him to go before them. They could not just begin to march and think that God would catch up with them and then direct their paths. No, they had to learn to patiently wait for the Lord to move the pillar of cloud and fire and then follow where He led them.
	We find this fully reinforced for us in Num 9:15-23, if you would please turn to it in your Bibles. Num 9:15-23, Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp. At the command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the Lord's charge and not set out.  If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the Lord they remained camped. Then according to the command of the Lord they set out. If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out. Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out. At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out; they kept the Lord's charge, according to the command of the Lord through Moses. 
	Notice that they were not constantly on the move. Sometimes they would march every day after day after day. Sometimes they stayed in their camp for a few days, for a week, or a month, or even for a year. Everything was determined not by their ideas and their decisions, but by the movement of the Lord when He decided it was time to go ahead. This is something that is necessary for us to learn and to keep at the forefront of our ideas concerning the guidance and the leading of the Lord in our lives.
	So often, we think that we have to accomplish this or that within a time frame that we construct in our minds. We are so belabored by the passing of time that it can often rule our every effort and manner of living on this earth. With the swift passage of the years, we succumb to what this world puts forth as the need for instant gratification and immediate results. There is very little time for us to spare to the reality that we need to learn to wait on the Lord. Just the idea of having to wait for anything grates at our hearts and minds as the minutes and the hours and the days and the months and the years slip away from us. 
	We need to learn to rest in the fact that while we are so encumbered by the constraints of time, the Lord isn’t. He controls the every element of time and uses it to perfectly accomplish all that He has determined from before even time existed. The traversing of the wilderness into the Promised Land was in exactly the correct number of years for the Children of Israel to learn to be led forth only as He so directed and at the precise time that He stipulated. It was not one day sooner, not one year later than when He resolutely brought them to the River Jordan to begin their conquest of the nations arrayed against them. They were fully prepared to go forth under His leadership and guidance and in obedience, for the most part, to Him through the training of their being led all those years by following the pillar of cloud and fire. 
	 The very first time that they moved was a year after they had finished the construction of the Tent of Meeting. For a full year, as we read in Num 10:11-13, they stayed in that one place while they waited for God to make His way evident to them. Num 10:11-13, Now it came about in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, that the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony; and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. So they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of the Lord through Moses. 
	The timing of the Lord is always His perfect timing. That is something that is so difficult to relax in. It is truly a treasure to come into that knowledge that we never want to rush ahead with our plans or to try to push the Lord to work at the rate and the pace that we have set for Him. This is an area of audacious irreverence that infests many of our hearts. We try to get the Lord to do this or that in accordance with how we think things need to be done and when we want them to be done. We are never satisfied to simply trust the Lord to work on His time schedule. 
We often struggle with this in terms of how He is working in our family members or those whom we would like to see come to know Him in their lives. We will pray and pray and pray, urging the Lord to make Himself known to this one or that one, always struggling with the seeming lack of response from Heaven. The truth is that He will do what He will do when He has chosen to do it. We can not force Him to work on any time frame of our design. That sometimes means that we are praying for people for years and decades and generations and not seeing any movement with our own eyes. All the while, we must learn to trust that God is hearing our prayers and is working, but with the eternal consequences of His action in view. 
So often, when we try to make something happen in our efforts to cause this one to see the truth in the depth of what they are experiencing, we tend to put a band-aid on a mortal wound. We give it a quick fix while, instead, God is working to establish an eternal change of heart. That is why we must learn to wait on Him to work and to respond only as He leads forth, like those wandering Israelites. They could only proceed as the cloud and the fire was lifted from above the Tent of Meeting and moved while they dutifully and obediently followed.
As we read, later in this 10th Chapter of Numbers, verses 33-36, the Lord’s forward movement occasioned both their places of rest and their victorious stand in the face of their enemies. Num 10:33-36, Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they set out from the camp. Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, "Rise up, O Lord! And let Thine enemies be scattered, And let those who hate Thee flee before Thee." And when it came to rest, he said, "Return Thou, O Lord, To the myriad thousands of Israel." God was their Safety in moving ahead and He was their Provider and their Rest in His abiding presence. So it is in our lives as we follow His direction and His guidance.
The Prophet Nehemiah, in Neh 9:19-21, was reminded of this abiding provision of the Lord all those years in the wilderness, as recorded in his prayer unto God. He understood how Yahweh made Himself everything to those whom He brought forth from Egypt and led step by step on the journey to the Promised Land. Neh 9:19-21, Thou, in Thy great compassion, Didst not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. "And Thou didst give Thy good Spirit to instruct them, Thy manna Thou didst not withhold from their mouth, And Thou didst give them water for their thirst. "Indeed, forty years Thou didst provide for them in the wilderness and they were not in want; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. 
	This is something else that is present in the manner in which God takes His time in dealing with you and me, His people. His patient supply of what each day requires works to establish our utter reliance upon Him. We see how each need is met through the constant supply of His grace and His mercy. Often, the means of His provision is simply put as miraculous, as He lovingly and gloriously shows us that His ways are far better than anything that we could have even imagined. To know Him in this course of our walk can only be developed as we tread the path under His guidance in obedient patience to see His hand covering our every day’s requirements. 
    	The Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor 10:1-4, brings this to the forefront of our recognition of the life that is now ours in Jesus Christ. All that took place in the wilderness experience of the Children of Israel was for the same purpose in their utter reliance upon God as is our walk today in Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 10:1-4, For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 
	The Apostle, in 2 Cor 5:17-21, then forged ahead with the fact that just like the Israelites were the recipients of the abiding covering of the Lord in the cloud of His glory, so are we covered in the abiding presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. We are brought, in Him, into a completely new relationship with God. In Christ, everything is new and filled with the reality of Jesus bringing us into the full reconciliation with the Triune Godhead. 2 Cor 5:17-21, Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
	It is Jesus Who is our covering, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade until the end of time and throughout the eternal ages to come. When time is no more, we will still be in His eternal presence, reconciled to God and rejoicing in the living relationship that is found only in Him. It is through His very indwelling Holy Spirit that every step is ordered and directed unto His glory in our lives. While the Israelites were led by the pillar of cloud and fire revealing the glorious presence of God and the paths that they were to follow, we have Him directly in our hearts, guiding our every footstep. In Him, we have rest and we have protection and we have every provision to meet the daily requirements of our obedient and patient and utter reliance of His going before us and showing us His glory. So be it.
	This brings us to the end of our consideration of the Book of Exodus. When next we meet together, Lord willing, we will begin our reading of the Book of Leviticus. 
And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 115:12+13. The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, The small together with the great. Amen.