Exodus 40:36-37 NKJV
Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up.
The cloud in the wilderness was symbolic of the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that as children of God we are led by the Holy Spirit. We will find the greatest success in life when we move by the direction of the Lord. I imagine that sometimes the Israelites felt like moving when the cloud was still, or did not feel like moving when the cloud moved. However, if they were going to get where God intended them to go, they could not move when they felt like it. They had to move when God said to move. We do not have a physical object like they did, but we have the Holy Spirit in our spirits to do the same thing. We must grow and increase in our ability to be led by the Spirit of God, but we will not see much growth until we make a genuine effort to follow the “cloud” instead of our feelings.