_PILLARS OF CLOUD AND FIRE_
"_The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud._"
--EXODUS xiii. 17--xiv. 4.
I need His leadership in the daytime. Sometimes the daylight is my foe. It
tempts me into carelessness. I become the victim of distraction. The
"garish day" can entice me into ways of trespass, and I am robbed of my
spiritual health. Many a man has been faithful in the twilight and night
who has lost himself in the sunshine. He went astray in his prosperity:
success was his ruin. And so in the daytime I need the shadow of God's
presence, the cooling, subduing, calming influence of a friendly cloud.
"_And by night in a pillar of fire._" And I need God's leadership in the
night. Sometimes the night fills me with fears, and I am confused. The
darkness chills me, sorrow and adversity make me cold, and I shiver along
in uncertain going. But my God will lead me as a presence of fire. He will
keep my heart warm even in the midnight, and He will guide me by the
kindlings of His love. There shall be "nothing hid from the heat thereof."
And my bewildering fears shall flee away, and I will sing "songs in the
night."