fear and trembling

i'm resuming my daily walk at numbers.

who says the old testament is boring and dull? its dramatically astounding!
when the israelites were delivered out of egypt, God provided a pillar of cloud by day which turned into a pillar of fire by night. visualise that bearing in mind how hot the day is in the desert and how cold it gets at night.

still, as the pillar of cloud/fire hovered above them, the isrealites grumbled against God when all except caleb and joshua were pessimistic about conquering the promise land and even wished they were back as slaves in egypt.

even after God wiped out a Levite uprising by causing the earth swallow up the instigator, the israelites continued to bear a grudge against Moses.

this was what happened next (numbers 16):

42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, 44 and the LORD said to Moses, 45 "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once." And they fell facedown.

46 Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started." 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

many people would think the ungrateful israelites as foolish and incorrigible, daft and unable to see the obvious. but perhaps we too take for granted God's pillar of cloud by day and His pillar of cloud by night, especially when our ambitions and hopes are dashed.