Thursday, February 4, 2021

Morning Manna by Rufus Parker - 4 February 2020

 

The Pilgrim's Guide

 

“And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed.” (Numbers 9:15-20)

 

Today’s Morsel:  In the years before and during the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s, escaped slaves fled northward, hiding by day, and moving furtively at night.  Often their only guide was Polaris, the North Star, which they found by tracing the handle of the Big Dipper constellation.  With help from white Quakers and free blacks, the fugitives escaped and sought safe houses along what came to be called the Underground Railroad.  When the children of Israel were making their way to the Promised Land, they, too, needed a guide to lead them.  And scripture states that God went before them as a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.  Writing to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul states, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.(1 Corinthians 10:1-4)  As born-again believers, we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  Like Abraham and the patriarchs of old, we are looking for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God.  So keep your eyes on the ark, the cloud, and the fire, for you have not passed this way before.  You cannot get there without Jesus!

 

Sing:  He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me.  His faithful follower I will be, for by His hand He leadeth me.

 

Thought For Today: You can’t get there without Jesus! (Parker)

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