The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 316

IIOMILETICS. Vers. 21, 22.-Gorl'.~ guidance of his people. The Israelites had quitted Egypt, had broken off from their old life, were about to plunge into that wild waste of sand and rock which separates Africa from Asia by an almost impassable barrier. If they took the northern line of march, they would come upon the saridy desert. Before them would stretch "endless sands yielding nothing but small stunted shrubs--broad plains -newly reared hills--valleys dug out by the last week's storm; the hiils, and the valleys, and the plains, all sand, sand, sand, still sand, and only sand, and sa.nd, and sand again." (Kingiake, Eothen, p. 187.) If they turned southward, they would find themselves in a labyrinth of twisted wadys, amid huge mountains, and in a region con- sisting .i;:hiefly of bare granite and sandstone rocks-" the Alps unclothed." (Henneker, Notes during a Visit to Egypt, p. 214.) In either case they would sorely need God's guidance; and God's guidance was vouchsafed to them. So it is with Christians. I. CHRISTIANS HA VE THE GUIDANCE OF GoD's SPIRIT THROUGH ALL THE U.'TRICACIES AND DESEnT PLAINS OF LIFE. 'rhe Lord leads them. God himself, God. the Holy Ghost, co-equal Person with the Father and the Son in the Triune Godhead, is their guide o.nd'di..t:ector, "a light to their feet and a lantern to their paths." Most neces,sary to them such~rection. Just escaped from Egypt, just freed from the bondage of sill, how would they ander and go astray, unless his right hand were stretched out to heip and guide! On t e weary waste, the dry, bare, monotonous plain of an eventless life, where no sign showed the way, where hope would fail and the heart grow faint, wna., could they do bur .for him? In the labyrinth of conflicting duties and uncerta1a devious paths, how~ould they determine on their course but for him? Alike in both he leads, directs, guiiies.____Ha-" will not leave them nor forsake them." II. Tm~ GUIDANCE IS PEnPE'l'UAL BOTH BY NIGHT AND DAY. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the wo~ld" was the promise given us by our Lord. 'l'here is no part of life from which he wit~draws himself-not the darkest night of earthly misery and disappointment-not the brightest day of worldly success and glory. Aud in both alike he is needed-perhaps most needed in the day. Then men think :hey can walk by themselves, choose their own course, direct their own paths. Then con- bequently they are most apt to go wrong, and "wander out of the way in the wilder- ness." But he is ever at hand to restrain, correct, recover them. By internal or external checks, by feeling o.nd conscience on the one hand, by his word, his ordinauc:;-,.,, bis ministers on the other, he interposes to save men from themselves, to keop tnern m the right way, or lead them back into the right way if they have departe<l fron: 1r..  812 THE BOOK OF EXODUS. Lctt. xm. 21, 21l, Darkne~s does not bide us from him-darkness does not separate us from him-yea, "the darkness is no darkness with him-the night and the day with him nre both alike." HI. 'l'HE GUIDANCE IS VARIED TO SUIT THE DIFFERENT NEEDS OF TIIE BOUL. Now l1y cloud and darkness, au overshadowing of the soul by his felt but unseen presence; now by the flashing in of intolerable light into the secret recesses of the heart and con- science, does the Roly Spirit of God direct and rule our lives. None can limit him o.s t-0 the means which he shall employ. Now he discomfits our foes, directing his keen gaze upon them "through the pillar of fire and of the cloud" (Ex. xiv. 24); now ho ~imply separates between our foes and us by interposing an insurmountable barrier (ib. ver. 19); at one time he shines into our hearts with a mild, gentle, and steady radiance; at another, he gives us rest, as under the shadow of a. cloudy canopy. At all times he chooses the means most fit to acc-0mplish his ends, shrinking from none that a.re potent to effect his gracious purposes. Clouds and darkness would seem to be the things most opposite to the ineffable brightness of his most glorious nature; but even clouds and darkness are pressed into his service, and made his ministers, when they can be ministers of good. IV. 'l'HE GUIDANCE 00}."rJNUES Ul,'TIL THEY REACH THE PROMISED LAND. "The 11illar of the cloud departed not" from the Israelites "by day, neither the pillar of :fire by night," during the whole time of their long and weary journeying, until they reached Canaan. God's gifts are "without repentance." They are given for the whole period during which we need them. As the Israelites required guidance until they trod the soil of the Jordan vale, and Canaan's hills lay plainly in sight, so do Christians need the Spirit's gentle leading, until the whole wilderness of this life is past, and the true Canaan reached. And what they need, they have. The Spirit's aid is with them to the end.