Took their Journeys out of the wilderness.
Israel’s journey through the wilderness an emblem of the Christian’s state on earth
While we are in this world we are passing through a wilderness, and our removes in it are only from one wilderness to another. The men of this world will dislike the comparison because the world is their portion, their all. But those whose chief business and governing desire is to get to heaven, and who have their conversation there, will acknowledge the emblem to be just, will dwell on it with pleasure, and derive instruction from it. This world is like a wilderness, as--
1. It is an uncomfortable state.
2. It is a dangerous state: dangerous to the Christian’s virtue and peace, to the life and health of his soul, which are the main things that he regards and pursues.
3. It is an unsettled state, subject to continual changes and alterations. We enter on new relations in life, and promise ourselves much from them, but still it is a wilderness: if we have new pleasures we have new cares and sorrows, and if we double our joys we double our griefs too. In every stage of the wilderness we leave some of our friends behind us, the prey of the universal destroyer death, and we find the rest of the journey more tiresome and dangerous for want of their assistance and company. Some are confined long in the wilderness, beyond the usual period of human life. Sometimes they think themselves near the country for which they are bound, and then, like Israel, they are turned back again, and have many more years to wander. Their burdens grow heavier and their pleasures less, and nothing in the wilderness can support them; nothing but religion and the hope of getting to Canaan at last.
Application:
1. Let us be thankful that we have so many comforts in the wilderness.
2. Let us be patient and contented under the evils of it. And for this plain reason, because it is sin that hath turned the world into a wilderness.
3. Lot us earnestly seek and hope for the presence of God with us in this wilderness, and that will be everything to us.
4. Let us rejoice in the views of the heavenly Canaan, and diligently prepare for it. (J. Orton.)
The cloud rested.--
The resting and the rising of the good
I. The people of God are sometimes called to remain, as it were, stationary for a time in this life.
II. Though the people of God may appear to remain stationary for a time, yet there is no permanent settlement in this world.
III. Both the restings and the risings of the people of God are ordered by him.
IV. The people of God, whether resting or marching, are protected by him. Learn, in conclusion, to--
1. Gratefully appreciate and diligently use the seasons of quiet rest in life.
2. Remember that, however long and grateful a rest may be granted unto us, we are only pilgrims here. Be ready to arise and depart when the cloud arises.
3. Follow the guidance of God.
4. Trust the protection of God. (W. Jones.)
Rest a while
“Rest a while!” Why, it is a mother’s word; she says to her little weary child who has toddled itself out of breath, “Rest a while.” It is the word of a great, generous, noble-hearted leader of men. He says, “My company must have rest. I know I am sent to gain victories and to work great programmes; but in the meantime my over-worked men must have rest.” It is a gentle word. Where do you find such gentleness as you find in Jesus Christ? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Rest time not waste time:
It is economy to gather fresh strength. Look at the mower on the summer’s day, with so much to cut down ere the sun sets. He pauses in his labour--is he a sluggard? He looks for his stone, and begins to draw it up and down his scythe with rink-a-tink, rink-a-tink, rink-a-tink--is that idle music? Is he wasting precious moments? How much he might have mown while he has been ringing out those notes on his scythe! But he is sharpening his tool, and he will do far more when once again he gives his strength to those long sweeps which lay the grass prostrate in rows before him. Even thus a little pause prepares the mind for greater service in the good cause. Fishermen must mend their nets, and we must every now and then repair our mental waste and set our machinery in order for future service. To tug the oar from day to day, like a galley-slave who knows no holidays, suits not mortal men. Mill-streams go on and on for ever, but we must have our pauses and our intervals. Who can help being out of breath when the race is continued without intermission? Even beasts of burden must be turned out to grass occasionally; the very sea pauses at ebb and flow; earth keeps the Sabbath of the wintry months; and man, even when exalted to be God’s ambassador, must rest or faint; must trim his lamp or let it burn low; must recruit his vigour or grow prematurely old. It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run we shall do more by sometimes doing less. (C. H. Spurgeon.)