Clouds
There was a large pasture that I often played in long ago. I think about it when I reminisce about my growing up years. The pasture had many purposes over the years. It had been home to horses and to wild animals. Garden plots dotted the area at one time. Car and tractor tires had made parallel tracks through the field turning the grass to dirt. This worn path that made its way through the pasture and lead to a small secluded lake where we would fish.
One of my favorite things to do in that pasture was to look up. There were osprey nests in the high wires that crossed the pasture, a wooded area on a high hill that beckoned to be explored and beyond those views where the clouds.
I loved the clouds.
Never the same. Always changing. Shades of blue peeking out from behind puffs of white. Magical indeed. Untouchable as well.
Years later I took my first plane ride. And there they were from a whole new angle. Now I could look down on the clouds, go through them and look across at them. I was mesmerized.
As technology improved, eventually I was able take pictures on my hand held device. Today I am quite certain I have hundreds of pictures of clouds from the sky. It makes me curious as to what it is about clouds that make them so intriguing.
Their colors? Nothing fancy there.
Their location? Maybe as they are out of reach.
Their movement? Likely as they are always on the move.
Could they be intriguing because of their untouchable existence that keeps the ecosystem of the world from collapsing? We can’t touch them, but we can see them as they keep us safe.
Was that God’s plan when He created them?
Did He know they would be like Him?
Like the clouds, we can’t touch God, as He is invisible but yet He too keeps us safe.
The Bible talks about God’s invisible quality. We read in 1 John 4:12-13, “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us.”
We also read in Romans 1:20a-b, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature.”
Although God is invisible, we are also promised that He is with us and protects us. The same promise that God gave to the Israelites is given to us, “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
God and Jesus are with us always. Jesus was clear on this when His spoke these words in Matthew 28:20b telling His disciples and us to, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What reassuring words that He will be with us until the end of the age. Although there are similarities between God and the clouds, there is one significant difference.
Unlike the clouds, we can depend on God. We are promised strength when we trust in Him. The next time you gaze at and admire the clouds remember, “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
JW