Category: Devotional

“See, He comes with clouds.”

Rev. 1:7

I do not like to fly.  This is a very unfortunate reality, considering the Assignment that God planted deeply in my heart happens to be in North Africa and the Middle East.

One of the “jumping off points” to my final destination is Spain.  An early morning flight began a long day and night of flying.  On the drive to the airport, I was dreadfully aware of the early morning horizon, and the massive wall of storm clouds between my plane and my destination.  My stomach was churning with dread.  I knew there would be turbulence at the least.  Ugh!

I carried the knot in my stomach throughout the next few hours of airport lines, checks,

lines, more checks, etc.  All the while, I was rehearsing the “final” message I would send to my dear ones at home (internet access pending!)  [God…couldn’t You have given me an assignment somewhere that I could just drive?]

The plane rumbled down the runway, and my stomach knots grew.  My eyes were glued on the mountain of clouds into which we were quickly ascending.   White…white…white.. ….Bumps…harder bumps….rattles….thoughts of my funeral service.

And then, quiet.    Blue skies.  Billowing Pillows of white below us.   I was still alive.

As I looked down, I heard The Whisper . . . “I’ve got you, Jan.  (Was that a bit of a British accent I heard?)   You’re sitting in My Hand.  No matter what comes, I’ve got you.  Always.”

Whatever was happening on the earth below me…. be it thunder, lightning, rain, wind…. I was in the middle of peaceful blue skies.  The clouds were far below me, and He was carrying me to the desert and the Saharawi people He and I love so much.  Going through the clouds brings anxiety and fear to my vulnerable heart.  But sitting in His Hand, I am safe.  It’s the safest Place to be.

He often uses Clouds to give us a visual of Himself . . . His Presence. . . His Power.  But the safest Place to be is sitting smack-dab in the Palm of His Hand.

“Look!  He comes with clouds.”

Rev. 1:7

 Remember looking up at the sky as a child and seeing different forms clouds create far above on their blue canvas? Especially the “thunderheads” we called them.  I loved watching them as a child, and loved having moments with my little boys…often chuckling at what they were “seeing.”   Now, it’s grandchildren looking up with me, and it’s still delightful  to hear what they see.

As with our moments of looking up at the sky to watch the clouds, we live with the reality of different “clouds” in our lives.  The  clouds  come between us and our blue sky . . . our happy moments when the shadows are gone and we can see the sunshine and clear blue stretching above our lives.

Often, throughout the Bible, God is depicted with a Cloud, because His Power and Radiance would be too much for a human to see and survive the experience.  Just as looking directly at the sun would be blinding to a human eye, our human eyes and minds could not handle direct contact with Him.

But when God’s Presence is with the clouds, it is life-changing.

I remember a day during a very painful season of my life.  I was about to leave a building to go to my car.  As I opened the door, I literally gasped at the sky.  The deep colors of pinks, purples, blues, greens, and many shades of each were breathtaking.  I had never seen anything like it.   I slowly walked to my car, looking up.  Even as I drove out of the parking lot, I could not stop watching the sky.  I do not remember ever seeing such a beautiful sunset.

I had hardly left the lot when I got one of those “Whispers” . . . “Go back…and just watch.”   I knew it was a God-Whisper in my mind.  I turned around and went back to my parking place, and just watched, facing the sunset.   As the gorgeous horizon of colors continued, I realized that the sky canvas was being painted above me, and continuing to spread all the way behind me, filling the entire sky to the horizon behind me.

I sat in the silence, watching the beauty unfolding all around me.

Then The Whisper . . .  “Keep watching . . . just stop, and watch.”

Then,  “Look at the colors . . . all the rainbow colors. . . . What is catching and displaying all those colors?”

I saw.   “The very bottom layers of the clouds are where the colors are.”

The Whisper,  “Haven’t you been saying you feel like you’re ‘under a cloud, and cannot get out from under it’?”

My silent “Yes” hung in my thoughts.

“Without the ‘clouds’ you would not be watching this sky of Beauty right now.   I do some of My very best Work using Clouds.  They’re the Canvas.”

 Tears began running down my cheeks.  I kept watching, and the colors continued stretching, catching and moving the beauty from horizon to horizon.

And the “clouds” that had seemed to only cast shadows and sadness in my life began to take on a new meaning in my mind and heart.  The glimpse of His Artistry, using the ‘clouds’ covering my life, began to reflect a whole new perspective and significance.

Clouds continue . . . but so does His beautiful Work.

 

 

 

 

 

“Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith,

we must get rid of everything that slows us down,

especially sin that distracts us.

We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up.”  

Hebrews 12:1

Who inspires you?  Who have you watched live out their own personal faith?  Perhaps it’s someone in your own family who has encountered serious struggles, but has never turned away from their own love and commitment to their faith.  Perhaps it’s a friend that you have watched walk through great loss or heartbreak, yet they have only tightened their grip on God’s Hand.   Maybe it’s someone to whom you are not even personally connected, watching from a distance as they have come through great tragedy. Yet they’ve held even more tightly to God, trusting Him with each step as they keep moving through experiences you could never imagine surviving.  They have been your examples of faith.

Sometimes the greatest losses and tragedy can be used to bring a new page in our life . . . things we had carried in our lives that had actually served to slow us down, or distract us from where our heart was longing to fly.  They may have been very good things in our lives . . . perhaps wonderful people we would have never wanted to be without.   But, for whatever reason, the void left in their absence has provided you a new opportunity to step into the Race of your own life in a deeper or more focused way.

The Race is your Life.  No one else is running your Race.  It’s between you and God alone.  Others may run beside you for a time, but they are not running your race.  They are running theirs.

How have you been running?   Are you just standing on your mark still trying to get your shoe tied?  Are you focusing on hearing that gun go off, on your mark, ready to go?  Or are you looking at the crowd to see who’s watching you?  Are you still adjusting your running suit?  Does it even fit?  Are you focusing on the finish line, or are you just checking out the runner beside you?  Comparing his/her physique to yours?   Do you even know where the finish line is?  Or are you just running because it’s what everyone else is doing?

Have you intentionally connected to runners who have been proven over time?  They have run their race with consistency and focus.  They know exactly where they are going, and have been running for a long time.  Who is in your life that you know has wisdom and proven experience that can help you improve your running….your technique….your focus….and your outcome?

Whether you intentionally joined the Race, or just wandered onto the field, you are in it.  It’s up to you how you run it.   Who are you looking at?  People who’ve proven they  know how to run their own race? Or do they merely have all the knowledge of how it should be done?

Focus on the Finish Line.  And run for your Life!

“Yet, I am always with You. You hold on to my right hand.”

Psalm 73:23

One of the most basic contacts between two human beings is the simple act of holding hands.   Putting words to that simple action creates quite a list:

• I want you to be near me
• Stay close to me
• I like you
• I love you
• I want you to be safe
• I want to know you are there
• I don’t want you to step into danger
• I want to be connected with you
• I want you to be connected with me
• I want us to “be” together
• I want to keep you away from harm
• I feel close to you . . . etc.

The writer of this Psalm verse is talking to God.  He had been regretfully describing actions that were far from proper, kind, loving, or cooperative.  He had made choices that were quite out of control, foolish, and just plain wrong.

As a mom of 3 boys, I can relate to the importance of “holding hands” with them.  With one, especially, it equated with keeping him alive.  He was so challengingly active that I actually tried one of those safety “leashes” while walking through a crowded Mall.  I had clipped the end of it to his pants, and  I held the “retractable” handle.  We practiced walking together before going into the crowded main foot-traffic area.

But as soon as we headed down the wide, crowded mall, ( about 5 seconds!) he had successfully wrapped his coiled “leash” around a lady stranger with whom he became immediately closely acquainted.

Back to the hand-holding for us!

In the part of the world where the Bible stories took place, the “right hand” is more honorable.  It’s the “clean” hand reserved for human – to – human touch.  The writer had obviously been making wrong choices and failing in relationship to God.  Yet, God was still there.  Still near. . . near enough to take him by the hand….by the right hand. Not in a shaming way, but in an honorable way.  Not in a frustrated way….or a “power” way….nor with a sense of discipline or punishment.

Rather, God initiates and takes hold of his hand. . . mercifully, kindly, honoringly….to bring him near so they can walk together without shame or distance.

This will be a walk that’s not just for a moment, not just to cross a road or to avoid danger.

This walk will be for always.

 

 

 

 

“Come to Me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads,

And I will give you rest.

Place My Yoke over your shoulders, and learn from Me,

Because I am gentle and humble.

Then you will find rest for yourselves

Because My Yoke is easy

And My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-29

 A yoke is the old-time wooden collar stretching between two oxen to pull a heavy load.  It keeps them in step with each other as they pull together to plow fields for planting.  (Now known as rustic  wall decor.)

“Yoke” was  a term that also applied to a student being taught and trained by a teacher/mentor.

They were “yoked” together.

In day to day practical life, two oxen were ultimately working to provide literal food for people.  But in a teacher / student context, the student was being trained through practical daily life to ultimately be able to provide “knowledge or spiritual  food”to benefit others.

Jesus used this  word picture to describe being connected to Him in a similar way…  in a training way, His students would be walking along with Him, learning to be “in step” with Him.  To be yoked with Jesus meant that you would be going in the same direction beside Him.  Closely.  Not out ahead of Him nor lagging behind Him.  His student would be in step with Him,  lending his/her strengths in doing the work together.

But Jesus, as usual, put a new twist on the old familiar reality.

• He made it a choice for the student to decide, no commanding or forcefulness being required. To “take” His yoke is on our part.  He doesn’t put it on us.  He offers.  He makes Himself available.  It’ up to us to respond..
• The typical work in the fields was hard work.  Physically taxing.  Often prodded, shouted at, and smacked with a stick for not doing the job quickly enough.  That would be “normal.”
• Jesus, the Master Teacher, described His “style” of teaching as gentle and humble. The effect would be a sense of rest.  [A big, long exhale is appropriate here.]  There was a gentleness and strength about His teaching, not force, or harshness, or demandingness.  No “headi-ness” or arrogance.  Who learns well under that kind of teaching?
• “My Yoke is easy….” A Yoke is still a yoke, heavy and uncomfortable, and still needful in accomplishing the goal.  Otherwise, there would just be some poor farmer out there chasing after rogue oxen more interested in who-knows-what.  But Jesus’ Yoke will be an asset to the work that is needed, rather than a tool of punishment or cruelty.
• “My burden is light.” Though the work still involves a “burden”…which is rarely a “joy” to carry, Jesus describes it as “light.”  Not gone, but not too much to carry.  No burden is weightless.

Anything that matters carries weight.  But the weight He invites us to carry with Him will be do-able.  His Strength will be there, bearing the  heaviness we could not bear alone.

As I contemplated these words this morning, a vivid image came to mind.  Thinking about what it looks like to share a “yoke” with Jesus, the mental picture that came was of me walking beside Him,

listening, asking questions, and catching glimpses of His Heart in His Words.  But instead of a wooden

Yoke between us, His Arm was stretched over my shoulder, as we walked down the path together. 

                                               I felt that I could listen to Him all day.