Numbers 7-9: Led By a Cloud

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. - Num. 9:18-22 NIV

Just imagine this vast host of people:  wives, children, livestock, and all of their tents and possessions being led by a cloud.  How orderly could that have been?  Who was in charge of traffic?  Where were the policemen?  The Children of Israel didn't need any of that.  They knew that they were God's chosen people.  They knew that he had brought them out of Egypt, out of oppression.  He had blessed them abundantly with the treasures that the Egyptians gave them as they left left slavery, with their bountiful herds of livestock and with their children who were spared from the Angel of Death.  They had seen the workings of God, so they were willing to be led by something as nebulous as a cloud.

It is counter-intuitive to think one could be led by a cloud.  Surely we need something more concrete than that!  Perhaps that's why we never get anywhere.  We're expecting God to show us something visible, when He is asking us to follow a cloud, when he's asking us to trust in the unseen.