07/29/2023
Are there clouds in your life, and if so what do they look like? Are they the big billowy white ones of a bright summer day? How about the thin wispy ones that stretch out as if forever? Or, are they the dark churning clouds that tower into the sky filled with lightning and ominous rolls of thunder? God is in the clouds... how does He appear to you today?
“And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”
Exodus 16:10 ESV
God is not a cloud, but He clothes himself in the clouds. His disposition being evident when He presents Himself by the type of cloud that surrounds Him, but the clouds that surround His glory always inspire our awe. God reveals His presence and teach us of Himself from within the clouds.
“And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.”
1 Kings 8:10-12 ESV
We have all heard this saying regarding someone who doesn't seem to be fully with us, but appears to be somewhere else... "He has his head in the clouds!" Most of the time the person saying this isn't paying the subject of their observation a complement. Yet, in spiritual realms there could be no higher praise. How I long to kneel at the feet of God and put my head in the clouds.
“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”
Nahum 1:3 ESV
So God and clouds go hand in hand, but what of those times when the ominously black storm clouds enter our lives? The days of darkness and trouble that we dread and fear. The days of pain, suffering, and mourning... is this God? Am I being punished for something in my life? This is a question that has been asked by men and women throughout history, and not just Jews and Christians.
I don't know the orientation of his faith, but Haruki Murakami, a modern Japanese thinker who is greatly influenced by western culture, said this of experiencing storms in life...
"When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."
This Japanese thinker has stumbled upon a truth that is evident in our faith... God teaches us in the “hard” times; He teaches us the "hard" lessons of life and faith, and these lessons change us forever. The night my father died, and again yesterday morning when my mother went to be with the Lord, were two of the darkest days of my life, but in the midst of my grief and pain I have learned the true depth of my love for God, and the lessons regarding mourning that He taught me have been sealed forever within my heart. God does this with our faith... during the hours after each of my parent’s deaths I cried out to my Heavenly Father in my despair, and asked for relief from the pain. Even as I was discovering the depth of the love I had for my earthly parents, I was marking the depths of my faith, and love for my Heavenly Father. He comforted me in the midst of these dark clouds. My faith was strengthened... not diminished.
In the wee hours of this mourning as I mourned my mother’s passing, I quickly wrote these words. I share them with you now as an example of the lessons we learn…
Mourning
By Rich Forbes - 07/29/2023
And Jesus said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4 CSB
In the mystery of our mourning
When death’s sorrow meets Christ’s joy
When death yields up hurt and heartbreak
To the praise our souls employee
In that time between our suffering
And the rolling of the stone
When death seems to be the victor
And our hearts feel all alone
We fall back into God’s promise
With Satan telling us all’s lost
To shed our tears within God’s arms
Understanding what sin has cost
In that saddest of all moments
When pain and darkness fills our hearts
The comfort we’ve been promised
Lights our world, defeats the dark
The price that Jesus paid for us
Rends the veil so we can see
The truth behind the mystery
That death’s grip has been set free
A blessing death doth bring to us
As Christ wins His victory
To redeem us from its clutches
Builds a bridge from Calvary’s tree
Mourning is a bridge, a doorway,
Through which we all must pass
Mourning’s mystery, our sweet promise,
Eternal peace and joy that lasts
Oh what a love our Father has
That nailed His Son upon a tree
To take the sin, the sting of death,
And from our mourning… the mystery
“As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!"”
Luke 9:34-35 ESV
Clouds scare us; because they block our vision and disorient us... they make us vulnerable, and we fear being out of control. Yet, wonderful lessons come in clouds and the fear is often unfounded. "This is my Son", and "He is coming". Wonderful proclamations and images.
“Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”
Revelation 1:7 ESV
We have all kinds of encounters with God as we walk the way of our faith with Jesus Christ. The clouds billow around us as God’s Word is revealed, and the truth of His constant presence is witnessed in them. I love the days filled with clouds. I revel in the light wispy ones, the billowy white ones, the ones that look like something to my imagination, and those that mystify me. I find strength and wonder in them all, and I hear God's voice. The challenge is not in the dark storm clouds, the challenge is in overcoming the fear, suffering, and pain that life brings by grasping His hand amidst the lightning within them, and hearing His voice over the roar of the wind and crash of thunder; but once we do... we will never be the same again... the rain will purify us, and the vine, that is our faith, will grow because that is the nature of storm clouds, and the rain they bring.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the storm clouds in my life. I thank you for coming in the midst of my darkest hours in all of your power and glory to teach me of yourself and seal your lessons within me. I thank you Holy Father for the rainbow on the back side of every rainstorm, and your hand that leads me to witness it. I thank you for not only the intense lessons of storms, but for those bright sunny mornings when I lay in the meadows of my faith with my head in the clouds and ponder your presence in the cotton puffs drifting by overhead. On those days I find your peace and joy, and know that you are God. I pray for the day when Jesus comes again with the clouds, and I wonder about how magnificent that day will be. I close my eyes and attempt to imagine it, but alas, I can do no justice to the spectacle it will be. Lead me Father; lead me before the still waters, and make me to lie down in green pastures... still my heart and strengthen my spirit in those days so that I will fear no evil when the storms approach, for you will be with me always... even in the raging storm. Before my greatest fears and hardships I will grasp your hand Father, and praise your name loud above the roar of my doubts. In the storm you will perfect my faith as iron is strengthened in the furnace of the forge. Comfort me amidst the clouds today Father and hear my prayers.
Rich Forbes