Tues.’s Devo - The Cloud

Read: Exodus 39-40:38; Mark 1:1-28; Psalm 35:1-16; Proverbs 9:11-12 On the first day of the second year, everything for the Tabernacle was ready and Moses put it all in its place just as the Lord had shown him on the mountain. If the people had any doubts, the cloud of God’s presence moved from where it was to the tabernacle and so filled it that they couldn’t see or enter it. This cloud filled with fire at night and led them through the desert to their promised land. God’s presence to them was visible and all could see it. We have been given the Holy Spirit that wants to be that visible in our lives. We walk by faith and not by sight but we are still being led by that invisible cloud. In Mark we read that the cloud that went before Jesus was sent in the man of John the Baptist. He was the one who prepared the road that Jesus would walk. He prepared the people’s hearts to receive him. He didn’t wear the smooth linen of the priests but wore rough camel’s hair. His belt was not the finely sewn sash of the priest but a belt of leather. He didn’t eat from the sacrifices of the people and the holy shewbread and the wine but he ate locusts and honey. And, he didn’t live in the Temple in special rooms but he lived under the stars out in the desert. He baptized people who wanted to repent of their sins. He washed their sins in the Jordan River and when Jesus arrived on the scene, he baptized him also. John witnessed God’s cloud like a dove come and rest on Jesus and knew he was the one God had sent to redeem them back to Him. Soon after this, John was arrested and thrown in prison. Jesus continued John’s message as he preached that the time God had promised had come at last. Jesus called his first three disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John. He began preaching in the synagogues on the Sabbath. He preached with authority and even the demons knew who he was. They spoke to him one day after preaching. They wanted to know why he was here and if he wad coming to destroy them. Jesus cast this evil spirit out of the man to the shock of the crowd. They had never seen a person with total authority over the spirit world. We read yesterday that the authority Jesus had, he gave to us after he resurrected. Lord, give us wisdom to use the authority you gave us with precise wisdom. May we declare your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. May we declare it to come to our nation and the nations of the world.