Key Verse: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;"
- Psalm 91:9 KJV
The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed
to change. Whenever the pillar stopped its motion, the tents were
pitched; but tomorrow, before the morning sun had risen, the trumpet
sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the
way through the narrow paths of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the
arid waste of the wilderness. They had scarcely time to rest a little,
before they heard the sound of "Away! this is not your rest; you must still
be onward journeying towards Canaan!" They were never long in one place.
Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding
home in their God, His cloudy pillar was their roof-tree, and its flame by
night their household fire. They must go onward from place to place,
continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, "Now we are
secure—in this place we shall dwell." "Yet," says Moses, "though we are
always changing, Lord, you have been our dwelling-place throughout all
generations."
