Despite all the crazy adjustments of being back in the States, there are a few things I’m absolutely loving. Being with family and seeing amazing friends, for one!!! Also, as I’ve gotten to drive around a bit, I’ve been exploring the radio… and picking up some new artists and songs I’ve not heard before. One I found today was by one of my fav artists… Chris Tomlin. It’s called “I will follow you.”
Not only does this really hit home for me as I consider what my future looks like – but it also strikes me because of its Old Testament connections. Let me back up. I get to teach through the first five books of the Bible at HOPAC in grade 3, and call me weird, but I LOVE this stuff. Learning about the temple and all it’s specifications, or the tabernacle and how the people carried it through the wilderness… how God led his people out of slavery and the story of His faithfulness even when the people were faithless. God led the people by “a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). Later, as the tabernacle gets set up, the pillar of cloud/fire guided their every move. Literally.
Numbers 9: 17-23 says: “Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent [of the Testimony], the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.”
Later, God tells them to go ahead without Him, and Moses says no way! (Exodus 33:1-8, 12-23). I love this – that even if it was because Moses wanted God’s protection or just to make sure they were set apart from the people around them, Moses knew that God was vital and that it wasn’t even worth following what God said (to go to the promised land) without God Himself going with them. As I think about all the things I myself want for my future – and then wonder how it’s going to fit together with what I see God doing right now – it’s a great reminder that it is truly not worth considering taking my own paths when God has a great plan in store for me. Even if I don’t quite get what He's doing along the way! And that whether I’m called to stay someplace for 7 months, 2 days, 2 years, or a lifetime, God is going to walk with me… and never leave me... every step of the way!
Here are the lyrics to the Chris Tomlin song “I Will Follow”. Or check out the song here. (I’m not a big fan of the youtube videos that are just lyrics printed but at least you can hear it this way!)
I Will Follow, by Chris Tomlin
Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow...
All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone
Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you
Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone
In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow
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