Clouds part 2
So there was a drought, right? No rain falling. A very dry season. Which has all sorts of Spiritual connotations. Then this happened, "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain" (1 Kings 18:41). Skip ahead a few verses, "And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand..." (verses 43, 44). The cloud. The hand of God. That's what brought the rain to the dry land. That's what brought the living water. See, if you only ever think of a cloud like that low-flying black cloud that overshadows you... you will miss out. Not only on the silver lining, but on the cloud's true purpose. Not the black cloud. Not the storm cloud. That's not our focus. But, again, if we see every cloud as bad then we are missing out on the silver lining. We are missing out on the cloud's true purpose. To bring rain. And I, for one, like the rain. It's so important. Such a big part of life. And we see the picture of water in the Bible over and over again. Bread and water. The living water that flows out of our innermost being. Water baptism. There's so much there. And I picked this passage of Scripture specifically because of the connection between the cloud and the hand. The hand of God that holds OUR hand and leads us like the children (of God) that we are. There's a big difference between childish and childlike. Being childish is like throwing a fit when you don't get your way. Being childlike is trusting your heavenly Father to take care of you. One of those is good, and acceptable, and perfect. The other one is throwing a fit when you don't get your own way. One of those is a rain cloud that brings restoration and healing rain. The other one is a black cloud. I guess what I'm trying to say today is that we need to use wisdom and discernment. We need to get to a place where we can see how things are working together for good. Where we can see the big picture. That way we can... if not exactly "accept" everything (because there are things in this life that are unacceptable) but at the very least we can bear things in order to learn the lessons from them. We can grow in one of my favorite fruits of the Spirit--longsuffering. Not fighting back against everything that happens, but sometimes letting things play out. Picking our battles. And really understanding that the only fight left (after Jesus went to the cross and won the war to end all wars) is the good fight of faith. Which isn't fighting to get something, but to lay hold of what we already have. To receive and release, to experience and enjoy, what we've already been given. That's the only fight we should be fighting. Fighting to believe the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. If you're in a dry season... pray for rain. But don't freak out when the clouds start to gather. And remember, on the other side of the coin, that every storm DOES run out of rain. It came to pass, not to stay. Take what you can from situations. Eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds. It's all working together for your good! God is holding you in His hand!