God's Glory in the Wilderness

"And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." Exodus 16:10.

But from what an unexpected quarter the glorious vision came! "They looked toward the wilderness." Not a cheering prospect, surely! Not a likely spot to which one's eyes would naturally turn for a revelation of the Divine presence! A solitary place, without habitation, or fruitfulness, or beauty; a waste and arid land, where the sun smites by day, and the moon by night; a place where the wild beasts meet, and dragons and owls dwell in safety. Yet such a desert does God choose, in which to reveal Himself; and the watcher sees, amid all this desolation and loneliness, nothing less than "the glory of the Lord."

Look into your past life, and see whether you cannot recall many times when you "looked toward" some wilderness of trial, or sorrow, or affliction, which lay directly in your pathway, but without the expectation of seeing "the glory of the Lord" there. Everything else you saw—the darkness, and the discomfort, and the danger—and you feared exceedingly.

Yet, has it not been true that, where and when you most needed Him, your blessed God has come to you; and, before long, your dreary desert has "blossomed as the rose!"

Then, too, with what infinite compassion for our weakness does He manifest Himself! His unveiled glory would strike us with blindness; so He makes it appear "in a cloud." With tenderest condescension, He deigns to enwrap His splendor in a misty veil of light, that the brightness of His presence may shine through, and yet not dazzle us.

Do not fear to look toward the wilderness, then, if your God has put you there; for here are the "goings forth" of the Lord from of old, and even thus does He give "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

From A Basket of Summer Fruit by Susannah Spurgeon