Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during May 2022]

Recently I had the need to fly across much of western and central Europe. In an experience unimagined by previous generations, it is possible to look down on the brown fields and hedgerows of eastern England, the blue-grey of the North Sea, the bulb fields of the Netherlands, the silver of Germany’s renewable energy installations, the white-capped mountains of Austria, the vast yellow plains of Hungary and the dark green of the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania, all in a matter of a few hours. Such a radiant range of colours; it would have been wonderful to see but clouds got in the way.

Nevertheless, clouds can have their own fascination. An endless variety of shapes and tones of grey can combine to evoke images that stretch the imagination. You can see fairytale castles, exotic animals and friendly or threatening faces, all made up of only water vapour. Clouds can be fickle, masking the warmth of the sun or promising rain that they do not deliver. How apt are the words that Joni Mitchell wrote in 1966:

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow
it’s clouds’ illusions I recall, I really don’t know clouds at all.

Clouds have significant roles in the Bible narratives. We read of them in the early verses of Genesis, in the book of Revelation and in about half of the books in between. There are benign clouds such as that which led the Israelites through the desert or those that bring rain to dry places but there are also more ominous clouds like those which herald the onset of a storm or God’s wrath.

Elijah sent his servant to look for signs that three years of drought were coming to an end, as God had promised. On the seventh occasion there appeared a small cloud on the horizon and Elijah knew that God would keep his promise^[1].

Job’s friend, Eliphaz, accused him of trying to hide his evil deeds below the clouds where God could not see him^[2]. Job responded that it was not that God could not see us but rather that we cannot see God. David explained it in these words

He made darkness his canopy around him – the dark rain clouds of the sky. 2 Samuel 22 v12

In Genesis we see that in the beginning, before the sun was created, the earth was shrouded in thick darkness. Only God was there. Later the Gospels tell us that the earth was again covered in thick darkness at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Even the sun looked away. Could this repeat of the thick darkness be an illustration of God making a new start in his relationship with mankind?

The writer of Hebrews refers to a cloud of witnesses. We are familiar with the idea that a group of witnesses could be a crowd but the use of ‘cloud’ implies much more. Like water drops in a cloud, these witnesses cannot be numbered, and their presence should encourage us to persevere in our spiritual walk^[3].

In Revelation we read of the painfully thick darkness that will envelop those who reject God’s plan for salvation. How will they escape who neglect such salvation?^[4]

[1] 1 Kings 18 v44
[2] Job 22 v14
[3] Hebrews 12 v1
[4] Hebrews 2 v3

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