All the Way

my Savior leads me

Scripture Reading: Exodus 13:17-22

While studying Exodus, people often ask the reasonable question, “What is the meaning of the pillars of fire and cloud?” The implication of the question is we assume a typological significance. That isn’t an unwarranted reflex. We should, I believe, always have an eye out for Christ and the gospel as we read the biblical text.

Nevertheless, I’ve never read or heard a compelling case for a specific foreshadowing nature of the fire and cloud and why they were in the form of a pillar. What we know from the text is that this pillar appeared as a cloud during the day and as a fire at night. The obvious reason is that at all times it was visible. When it moved, the people moved. When it remained stationary, the people camped out.

The important point in the text is that the pillar was a visible manifestation of the LORD. It was the LORD that was going before them in the pillar (verse 21), and it was God that led the people around the wilderness (verse 18). The pillar was not distinct from God, it was God’s way of manifesting Himself and His will for the children of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt to the Promise Land.

While we can’t necessarily assign any specific typological meaning to the fire and cloud or the form in which they appeared – a pillar – what we can say is that they teach us that God leads His people, and He leads us 24 hours a day. His leading is not hindered by the darkness of night or the heat of the day. He doesn’t depart from His people (verse 22).

The second verse of Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” reflects the history of wilderness wanderings and applies them to the Christian life. While she didn’t mention the pillars of fire and cloud, she may well have had them in mind when she wrote this song:

All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

May you know and see the leading of Christ in your life today.