God in the Clouds

Our city experienced several incredible thunder storms last week. One of them brought so much rain in a short time that a major freeway flooded in a few underpasses. People stranded in cars were rescued with boats! Yesterday, severe lightning held up a CFL game for a long time. A suburb received so much rain and hail that people had to shovel nearly a food of the white stuff off their driveways as if it were snow. The clouds were spectacular.

This morning, Chambers points to the ways the Bible connects God with clouds. I have noticed how often it says God controls the weather, but Chambers believes that clouds are “the dust of our Father’s feet” and a sign of His presence. He refers to these verses describing the return of Jesus Christ in the clouds . . .

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 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. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:4–8)

Jesus will come with literal clouds, yet clouds can also be metaphorical. We often connect them with sorrow, suffering, or events that seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet as I walk with Him, I realize that those tough clouds in life teach me to walk by faith. Not only that, the saying that every cloud has a silver lining is true. God is there in those difficult clouds, using them for His good purpose, so much so that I’m beginning to see even the tough stuff as a gift from God.

God does teach me in trials. As Chambers says, often He wants me to unlearn something, to simplify my faith so my relationship to Him is like a child and everything else fades to the background. He alone is the light of my life, and by Him I begin to see all of life differently. Chambers says, “Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God’s character, we do not yet know Him.”

In other words, the purpose of those dark clouds is to bring me to the place where I can enter them without fear, realizing that Jesus is with me in that place. He will not leave or forsake me, and He will use the cloud to bring me into a deeper blessedness and a closer relationship with Him.