Bible study elijah and the cloud4/3/2024 His will for you is being wrought in the whirlwind and in the storm, and His blessed presence is in every cloud of distress that crosses your pathway. My beloved suffering saint, everything is under control. The knowledge of this caused Paul to sing, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Tell me why the gardener trims and prunes his rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches, and I will tell you why God’s people are afflicted. To this dear woman on her hospital bed I would say, “Look toward Heaven, look beyond the clouds, and you will see that the sufferings you are undergoing here are nothing compared to the glory that God has prepared for you there.” The person who expects to escape the pangs of suffering and disappointment simply has no knowledge of the Bible, history or life. Life’s span is marked by pain and tragedy, and our lives terminate with the enemy called death. Job said, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). The Bible teaches that human suffering is an integral part of life. She did not ask that God would relieve her of suffering or raise her up, but only that God’s grace would be sufficient through the trial of suffering. I received a letter from a woman suffering on a hospital bed in the last stages of cancer. I want to remind you of some of the clouds that hide from you the beauty of the face of God.įirst, there is the cloud of suffering. These same clouds that are hanging low in your life, and look so dark from the underside, would look totally different if you could see them from God’s vantage point. If we could only see our clouds from the other side, as we do when flying above them in an airplane, their radiant magnificence would take our breath and our worries away. But as the plane climbs up through the clouds, we emerge into a sun-drenched world far above the dismal and disappointing things of Earth. Often when we board an airplane, the sky is overcast. There would be no lavish sunsets no rain no light no beautiful, picturesque landscapes. In Exodus 16:10 we read, “They looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.” Without the clouds there would be no shield from the burning sun. The Bible indicates that clouds are given to us for a purpose, that there is glory in the clouds. The Bible has a great deal to say about clouds, for they are symbolic of the spiritual forces that obscure the face of God. You may be in a hospital bed or you may be suffering discouragement and bereavement. You may have a cloud hanging over your life. I have thought of the clouds of discouragement and suffering that temporarily veil the sunlight of God’s love. Many times I have sat on the front porch and watched the clouds below.
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