When God spoke to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 to reassure him of God’s everlasting presence, He created a variety of different physical effects. All of them were enormous. All of them were where most people would look for God.
But God wasn’t in any of them. As He says in 1 Kings 19:13, God was represented by the sound of a gentle blowing.
As Christians, we all look for God on a daily basis. We yearn for Him, trying to discern where He is in the midst of a chaotic and busy world.
Sometimes we think we see Him in world events, but just because the events are noteworthy to us doesn’t mean they also contain the power of God. Indeed, in Matthew 24, Jesus says that wars and rumors of wars will continue, but “the end isn’t near.” That’s not where He’s at.
The Israelites, on the other hand, knew exactly where to look. For forty years in the wilderness, God dwelt over the top of the Tabernacle in a cloud of fire during the daytime. By night, He would appear in a pillar of fire. Both of these were also present symbols of God’s presence during the immediate exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 13:21).
This Text in Numbers 9 tells us two things about Israel’s relationship with God.
First, the cloud and fire were always present over the Tabernacle—not over any one individual person. This would change in the New Testament times when a “tongue of fire” appeared over the disciples in Acts 2, giving them the power of the Holy Spirit.
The connection between the two is intentional. Just as God’s presence over the Tabernacle showed the presence of God, so did the tongues of fire. Moreover, His presence doesn’t reside within a tent in the New Testament, but with His people, even though we don’t have the same miraculous abilities of the New Testament Christians (1 Corinthians 13).
Secondly, Numbers 9 places an emphasis on the obedience of the people. Seven times in between Numbers 9:15-23, the phrase “the command of the Lord” is used, signifying that His presence was telling them to stay put. Numbers 9:19 even calls this presence and the command to stay as their “charge.”
The Israelites may not have realized this, but their desire to follow the presence of God was creating in them a dependency on Him. It showed their complete submission to His word and a desire to be closer to His presence.
Later, when the cloud filled the Temple, their eyes would be pointed in that direction, too. That’s where God was, after all, so that’s where they should be looking.
That’s where we should be looking—not towards the Temple, but towards His presence. Where He is. Where His word is. And where His people are.
