Friday, May 2, 2008

When You Are Under a Cloud


From time to time in life things are going to get dark and disturbing. You will have no where to go and not know what to do. In that moment be still and know that God is God. In that time, when you are under a cloud, pray and wait on the Lord to move.

In Numbers 9 this is what the people of Israel would do. The cloud would come and dwell over the central part of the encampment where the place of worship was set up – the Tabernacle.

Numbers 9:15-18 On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. 16That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. 17Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. 18At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

Jesus now dwells with us. He has come and tabernacled among us. You can actually translate the verbal phrase “made his dwelling” as “tabernacled” in John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We must remember that nothing happens in life by chance. God is sovereign and working a plan that goes beyond our comprehension. He is working it all for a good that goes beyond what we can hope or imagine.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

When God allows a cloud to dwell over us, then we must trust God and wait on Him until He shows us what to do. Creating our own answers according to our fear or sinful desires will only make the cloud dangerous.

Wait on God and obey Him according to His Word, when He shows you the way.

2 comments:

Chad said...

Thanks for this blog. Your message came with perfect timing. I really needed to be reminded of that.

Richard Carwile said...

This week I met for the 2nd time with a great group of men for a "Job Seekers" Bible Study. Job Seekers is every Wednesday at 10am in room 207 at Living Hope and is for men who are underemployed, or unemployed. Each of these men has a cloud over them right now. For some, it has just arrived, for others it has been there for longer than they could have imagined.

Spending time with them each week has been a good reminder of the need to press on in hard times, and to remember that when the cloud does lift, that is not a guarantee that it will not return. Often times, it does return, as many of these men have confirmed through their experience.

Please pray for these men, and for us all, that we will look to the day when there are no more clouds, only the radiance of eternal light from our Lord.