Behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud –Exo 16:10.
What a strange phenomenon is this concentrated mass of vapor that navigates the sky above us. In one instance, a cloud can minister such immense blessedness and hope, while in another it can be the instigator of nagging uncertainty and even the arousal of ragged fear. Clouds were often, no doubt, the welcome shade to the heads of weary fishermen upon Galilee and the propagator of hope to the toiling farmer. How often these clouds part at midday to allow the sun’s beaming rays access to the earth. Then in the evening, they provide the opaque structure for the exquisite beauty of a silver lineation.
We may marvel to see an airplane weighing over 700,000 pounds mount up with wings and soar through the heavens, yet a cloud can carry millions of tons of water without any of the dynamics of human intervention. Clouds are formed when moist, warm air rises to a cooler elevation and water condenses onto microscopic “seeds” such as dust, ash, or bacteria. If there’s more water vapor than places on which it can condense, then ice crystals can also serve as seeds and take on moisture—He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them –Job 26:8. Eventually, these seeds become too heavy for updrafts to support, and then, behold, it is time for the umbrella.
To the parched land in Elijah’s day, the smallest of clouds (like a man’s handin 1 Kings 18:44) was the answer from the Almighty that He was again prepared to bless His people with rain. Yet, to others like Job and Jeremiah, the cloud represented the ultimate emblem of doubt, despair, and discouragement. Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud –Job 30:15, and Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through –Lam 3:44. It is often in such stressful conditions that God chooses to hide Himself in a cloud. At these times, we grope through the thick foreboding fog in search of the pathway of light, but we find it not. In our discouragement, we may long for the beam of a cloudless day, but it eludes us. We know that God is in the midst of the mist, but we cannot apprehend Him, nor see His blessedness. With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt –Job 36:32.
Why would our God, who loves to commune with us, the vessels of His own creation, choose to hide Himself in a cloud? Why does He often hide His will from our searching and aching hearts? Our finite minds often wonder what glory could possibly arise from such a seemingly distant God, and …to what purpose is this waste –Mat 26:8. While we would never expect it to be God’s divine plan to leave us in a foggy stupor forever, it may be His will for a time. Like a stroll through the valley of the shadow of death, there can be eternal character wrought in the soul who has experienced a seasonal lack of clarity in their path. We are well aware that the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day –Pro 4:18. Still, most of us have, at times, experienced the hopeless fog that surrounds our present and our future. In these times, we meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night –Job 5:14. In our bedraggled discouragement, we can easily lose sight of the goodness of God. Our resulting lack of thankfulness is a sure road to a host of other temptations, while the giant of despair rises overhead in an attempt to weaken our resistance to sin.
We know that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are –Jam 5:17. Yet, few of us have ever experienced a victory as exhilarating as he did when he triumphed over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Still, many of us can well relate to the discouragement that followed as he came unto Horeb and lodged in a cave there. This is the same place as Mount Sinai where the first great mountain scene opened before us in the Scriptures. Then it was Moses who met God in the cloud. The law was given, and God’s glory was so marvelously manifested and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake –Heb 12:21. This mount that might be touched was a formidable and intimidating mountain flanked by splintering dark granite peaks and stern ridges of indescribable grandeur. The bold and awful front of Horeb, rises in frowning majesty from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet in perpendicular height.
With Elijah’s vision clouded over and his spirit ebbing away at an all-time low, God responded to him in astounding methodology—…And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out… –1 Kin 19:11-13.
Somehow, we have come to believe that an earthshaking experience is the epitome of God’s manifest presence. We reckon that God was closer to Elijah on Mt. Carmel than He was on Mt. Horeb. It was Elijah’s “day in the sun” while speaking on Mt. Carmel. He chided the people and mocked the prophets. He preached boldly in the name of the Lord and commanded the people to repent of their duplicity. But now his voice has been silenced and he is listening … listening to the still small voice calling into account his own actions and ambitions. Thus, if we will but stop and listen, the memory of our dismal failures will escort us to the front porch of our Lord, rather than allow us to glory in our perceived successes.
This is the blessed ministration of the cloud. It is often the vehicle that the Lord will use to bring us to the place where we can truly receive His manifest glory in our hearts. This is not the white, fluffy, cumulus clouds of a balmy summer day but, rather, the flat and featureless stratus clouds that blanket the heavens from east to west and totally eclipse all the rays of heavenly sunshine. They can enshroud the day at high noon with an arsenal of gloom that rankles our hearts to the core. The little things, that on other days had little effect on our attitudes, now seem to tower as giants before us. We may face advents that we know are beyond our control, but our minds refuse to enter into rest. In times like these, if there happens to be an unfortunate soul on the other end of our conversation experiencing a similar plight, we may experience firsthand that …man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward –Job 5:7. At other times, our melancholy mood may be content to withdraw and feed itself with our own reclusive pity and foggy misery.
Some, in their desperation, turn to medication for the mind and there find a limited valve of relief. But God has not brought us into the cloud so that we may seek the help of physicians and psychologists. The ministration of the cloud is to shut off all other alternatives so that we may receive of Him the full blessedness of His consolation. God is willing that we should sacrifice the shimmering sunshine of today for the fullness of His presence tomorrow.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away –Jas 4:14. In bygone years, I have preached on this verse, exhorting souls concerning the brevity of life and encouraging them to not squander their years away. But I had totally ignored the foundation of it—ye know not what shall be on the morrow. This, perhaps, seems trite to the young at heart, but as the fruit of my age continues to ripen, I have a growing appreciation for the common and obvious idioms. Our modern scientific world is so adamantly pursuing the love of life that it cannot appreciate the life of love that is begotten through suffering. While those who, in ages past, suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin (1 Pet 4:1), I see no reason why those who experience the frail sufferings of a clouded mind may not share the same glory if they will but endure and trust to God the results.
We are an arrogant people who lean on the predictions of tomorrow. We fancy that we can plan our retirement and schedule our life events with immaculate detail. The weather forecasters tell us of tomorrows temperature so that we can meticulously plan our day. Our insurance gives assurance that we will not be subject to future poverty. Our freezers and bank accounts are full enough to see us well past tomorrow, and we have grown accustomed to believing that we …sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow –Rev 18:7. Yet the sorrow of heart cannot be so easily absolved by earthly amenities. Our life is a vapour (cloud) because we …know not what shall be on the morrow… –Jas 4:14. In spite of all our technology we still cannot absolve that fact. It is here that we must lay aside all our intuitions, expectations, and ambitions of what our life ought to be and find our God in the cloud.
He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it –Job 26:9. To what benefit is the cloud covering the face of God’s throne? If it were easily beholden, most of us would be content to dwell with Him from afar. However, due to the impending fog, we must draw nigh to experience His fullness. How thankful we ought to be that it is thus, for how devastating would be our spiritual loss if it were not so.
If our self-sufficient life was always vibrantly full and God were easily apprehended, we would lose…
…Faith
We seek a guarantee that our trials will end happily ever after and that our prayers will naturally become unnecessary. In faith, we believe in God’s provision, but the fact that we know not what a day will bring demands that we fall upon our feeble knees and pray. There may be many things that make it hard for us to trust in God, but the shrouded tomorrow makes it easier. Researchers have spent millions in their efforts to control the weather. They have sown every imaginable cloud seed into the air in efforts to produce rain clouds. After reviewing 40 years of cloud-seeding efforts in an area north of Israel, researchers at Tel Aviv University have concluded that cloud seeding doesn’t actually produce any additional precipitation. How thankful we should be. The more we can control the unknown morrow, the less faith in the Master of the Universe we need.
Jacob, in leaving behind an angry brother, a disappointed father, and a severed tie with his mother, faced an altogether unknown future. This is a part of the ladder to the throne and it fortifies our commitment to our omnipotent God. Now we know in part and we see in part. Perhaps that fractional sliver brings us more inner wealth than if the whole were fully understood. If our future were amply within our manipulative power, we would formulate a perfect utopia supplied with the perfect number of children living sumptuously in the perfect home supported by the perfect job surrounded by perfect behavior that is perfectly sterile and dead.
…Hope
I question if we realize how deeply our debt is to the unexpected. The Hebrew writer declares our hope to be …an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast… –Heb 6:19. Children are happy because they have big dreams. Often the anticipation and planning of an event is almost as thrilling as the excursion itself. Every day is a bright new window to the unspoiled, hopeful mind. Experiences can often bring us to the brink of cynicism and bitterness when viewed through yesterday’s disappointments. Jacob, upon the marvelous reunification with his son, Joseph, still remarked, few and evil have been my days. Though it is naturally so, it needs not to be. Paul states …that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope –Rom 5:3-4. Surely, if we knew what was in store tomorrow (both good and evil) the invigorating element of hope would dwindle. Eve feigned that life would be better if she could only secure more knowledge. But what blessed hope was forfeited in her lustful pursuit of clarity.
…Love
There is a wistful tenderness in love that nothing but uncertainty can give. It is uncertain wonder that encompasses the way of a young man with a maid. The unknown perils of tomorrow drive a mother to love and prayer for her children. It is the vision of a brighter tomorrow for his family that moves a father to diligence in his daily work. Wherever a husband and his wife are knit together in Biblical oneness of holy matrimony, the mystery that envelops tomorrow is like the minor chord in a great melody. It speaks in joy of a suggested sorrow and brightens sorrow with encircling joy. Would Jacob’s seven-year wait have seemed like a few days if he had known what the morrow would bring? If we knew everything, love would be too hard. If we knew everything, love would be too easy. If we knew everything, we would be brokenhearted. If we knew everything, we would be unconcerned. In other words, it makes us stronger to not know the worst and it makes us more tender to not know the best. For in our clouded and darkened lens there …abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity –1 Cor 13:13.
It is no coincidence that while the disciples …beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight –Act 1:9. And so we dare not be surprised that, at times, we shall be called to suffer the mental strain and stress of an obscure and unknown tomorrow. …For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away –Jas 4:14. There is coming a day when we shall …see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory –Luk 21:27. And again it is written, Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him … Even so, Amen –Rev 1:7.
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