I enjoy sitting outside with that first cup, looking at the sky, realizing that blessings are all around me.  Living in Memphis, we are delighted in many days of beautiful fluffy clouds.  As a kid, I used to find animals or people in those clouds. 

Even computers get into the act.   My writings are now in the Cloud, somewhere in cyber space but still there long after I’m gone! 

God uses clouds throughout scripture.  These are Biblical clouds, and God uses them in a special way.

In Genesis, God tells Noah and his family that a rainbow in a cloud will serve as a sign of His covenant with humanity and a promise to never again destroy the world with a flood. 

 On Mt Sinai, Moses went up into the mountain and the clouds covered him. At one point his face glowed from his encounter with God and a type of veil or cloud covered his face. 

Clouds guided the people as they fled Egypt, and a cloud led them in the desert.  It appears as a pillar of fire by night. Jewish Rabbis say this was God’s angel hidden in the cloud.  Perhaps it was the Messiah himself, since He was always present with his people, through their unfaithfulness or their redemption.

 In the New Testament, Jesus himself used clouds in His teaching.

1. Matthew 26:64, “Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
2. Matthew 17:5 ^“While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; and I with him  well pleased. Listen to him!”
3. Revelation 10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.
4.  Revelation 11: 12   They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

Clouds play a part in describing power and strength. They both reveal and conceal.  On one hand, they are an expression of God’s glory, but at the same time our vision on earth might be “cloudy”.

            Soon the clouds will vanish, and we shall see Him as He is!

                                             Try cloud gazing!