For the second straight day, the skies are clear. Here I decided to focus on clouds for a few meditations, and suddenly there’s not a cloud to be found. After our weather of the past month, it feels almost suspicious … like the day I stop writing about clouds, they’ll return.
Yesterday’s meditation reflected on a single cloud in the wilderness. Today we move to the mountain.
When Moses climbed Mount Sinai, Scripture tells us, “the cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai” (Exodus 24:15-16). For six days the cloud remained there. The
The cloud that had led them now rested upon the mountain … and while it was there, the people rested.
There is something both comforting and unsettling about the image of the cloud on the mountain.
It was comforting because it was tangible evidence of God’s presence … and sometimes we need that. But it was also unsettling because no one knew how long it would stay there. When it settled, it stopped leading. It let the people rest, but no one knew what God would do next. Would the cloud come down closer? Would it get “angry” and unleash a storm? Would it resume its course and lead them again? Would it disappear?
In the Bible, the Israelites got nervous about the cloud on the mountain, made a golden calf, and began to worship it instead of God. Rest turned to restlessness. The truth is, like them, we want to understand our lives, our world, and even God. We prefer a predictable God to a mysterious God. But God is not fully knowable. God is holy beyond imagination.
Moses was invited into the cloud, but he wasn’t invited to control it. That may be one of the harder lessons of faith. Following God isn’t the same as figuring him out. Faith has room for mystery.
In fact, perhaps mystery is one of the ways we recognize that we’re dealing with God and not merely with our own ideas about God. If we could explain everything about God, he would be far too small to worship.
So on this second cloudless day, perhaps the absent clouds in the sky can remind us of the cloud on the mountain—a reminder that God’s presence isn’t always meant to make us comfortable. Sometimes it’s meant to make us stand in awe. And awe isn’t a bad place for faith to live.
Prayer: Holy God, you are nearer to me than I often realize and greater than I can fully comprehend. Forgive me for the times I’ve tried to shrink you down to fit my expectations and understanding. Give me a faith that trusts in you and in your love for me, even as I stand in awe of you. Amen.
