Clouds part 3
When it's dark out you can't see clearly. I think we can all agree with that. And for a long long time, a world existed where everybody DIDN'T have a flashlight in their pocket at all times. The night was a very different time and place. But even during the day sometimes it can be dark out. Especially if a storm is coming. If the clouds gather. And I think that's where a lot of us live a lot of the time. Kind of in anticipation of the other shoe dropping. That suspicious feeling when things are going pretty ok... or, in our minds, way too good. "When is the bad stuff going to hit?" So we kind of stumble around under that low-lying black cloud. We let worries and anxieties consume and control us. When, really, what we should be doing is found in 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Which, in my opinion, doesn't mean complaining to God all the time. You've probably heard the saying, "Don't tell God how big the storm is, tell the storm how big God is!" It's a shift of focus. A shift of perspective. Casting your cares on the Lord, to me, means simply not worrying anymore. Trusting that your heavenly Father will handle things. Trusting that He cares about you. That's the real issue--it's about trust. Knowing that the storm WILL run out of rain. Knowing that the wind WILL blow the storm clouds away. And, really, HAS blown the storm clouds away. We don't need to wait for God to do anything. Or hope that He will do anything. He already did everything that needed to be done 2,000 years ago on the cross. And, really, even before that. Revelation 13:8 identifies Jesus as, "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Saviour. Before there was ever a cloud, there was the light of the world. In the third verse of the Bible it is written, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Darkness was on the face of the deep, but then God spoke. He interjected something into that darkness. He introduced HIMSELF into that situation. Because He didn't want us to stumble around in the dark. He didn't want us to suffer, or stumble, or fall. Let me quote my key verse for this Rant series again. I think it's so powerful. Romans 8:1-2 in the Message Bible, "With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." Wow that's good! A way things were and then the way they are now. The more excellent way! Christ's being-here-for-us. Casting our cares on Him because we know He cares for us. That's such a peaceful, easy feeling. Such an amazing way to live. That, in fact and in truth, is how we're SUPPOSED to live! That's who we are, because that's who HE is. So we don't have to worry all the time. We don't have to stumble and fall. He is the One who KEEPS us from falling. Who shines His light (of love) on us, and in us, and through us, and as us!