Clouds

“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds –
his name is the LORD – and rejoice before him.

Psalm 68:4 NIV

The other day I was enjoying looking up at the clouds with my grandchildren. We were imagining what all of the different shapes reminded us of. Abigail saw a heart, Joshua saw a bear, and I saw a fluffy cone of cotton candy.

I then took the opportunity tell them that the Bible teaches us that we are to praise God because he is so mighty that instead of riding in cars and airplanes, God rides the clouds! I remind them that their Papa likes roller coasters but I imagine that riding clouds must be way more fun!

Clouds are important. Jesus left this earth in a cloud and we will see him coming a second time in the clouds. In fact, the Bible tells us that those who have died in Christ will rise first and those who are still living will be caught up in the clouds to meet our Savior, Jesus Christ.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

I Thessalonians 4:15 NIV

Yes, clouds are important. Sooner or later if you are a believer you will be riding the clouds with Jesus! Considering that I hate roller coasters, this adventure unnerves me just a bit! I am comforted by the fact that we are always eternally safe when we are with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

From an earthly perspective some days the clouds are not so beautiful. Some days they are dark and dangerous looking. The clouds that cover our spirit can be the worst clouds of all. The sooner we are able to entrust Jesus with the darkness that tries to enter our mind the better off we will be. Remember, Satan uses times of discouragement and depression to squelch our spirit. Choose to fight negative thoughts with prayer. If you find that you are so discouraged and that you can’t pray, then ask someone to pray for you. Even in the darkest times of our lives, even in times that we feel God’s face is hidden in the dark gray clouds of life, our faith in our God brings us comfort.

After all, that is what faith is! Faith is believing in something or someone that we cannot see. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 NIV We cannot see the wind, yet we know it is there. We cannot see electricity, yet we flip a switch believing that the light will come on. We cannot see the healing results of medication, yet we take it believing that we will feel better. Remember God rides all of the clouds. He is there in the beautiful white puffy clouds that reflect his sunshine and he also he is there in the dark clouds of life that hide his face. Praise God, our God rides the clouds! He is always there. God is only a prayer away!

Questions:

Is faith a difficult concept for you?

Do you fear that in believing in something you cannot see will make you look foolish?

Because the benefits of believing in God are so great, would you consider giving faith a chance?

Are there some things that you can trust God with and other things that you simply can’t believe?

What are those things?

Have you ever prayed that God would help your unbelief?


Prayer:

Dear God,

Today I pray that you will help my unbelief. God, make the question in my heart not be if you can, but rather if it will be your will to do so. With you God I do know that all things are possible, yet not all things happen the way I want them too. God forgive me for thinking that I don’t have enough faith to merit your help. I realize that I cannot drum up huge amounts of faith; I simply must express to you that I know you are able to do all things. I am so glad that all the faith that is needed on my part is the very small amount, faith the size of a mustard seed. Matthew 17:20.

In Your Son’s Name I pray. Amen