the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
“…they feared as they entered into the cloud.” (Lu. 9:34)
Peter, James and John were on the mount with Jesus. Sensing that this was a significant moment in history and desiring to somehow preserve its glory, Peter proposed erecting three booths—one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. This, of course, would have put the Lord on the same level as the two Old Testament saints. God thwarted the project by enveloping them in a cloud. Luke tells us that “they feared as they entered into the cloud.”
They shouldn’t have feared. It was a cloud of glory, not of judgment. It was a temporary phenomenon, not a permanent fact of life. God was in the cloud, even though He was not visible.
Oftentimes clouds come into our lives and, like the apostles, we fear as we enter into one of these clouds. When God calls us to a new sphere of service, for instance, there is often the fear of the unknown. We imagine the worst in the way of dangers, discomforts and disagreeable situations. Actually we are just being afraid of a blessing. When the cloud lifts, we find that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect.
We fear as we enter the cloud of sickness. Our minds run wild with alarm. We interpret every word and facial movement of the doctor as an omen of doom. We diagnose every symptom as pointing to a terminal disease. But when the illness passes, we find ourselves saying with the psalmist, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted”. God was in the cloud and we did not know it.
We fear when we enter the cloud of sorrow. What good, we ask, could ever come out of such tears, anguish and bereavement. Our whole world seems to collapse in ruins around us. But there is instruction in the cloud. We learn how to comfort others with the comfort with which the Lord comforts us. We come to understand the tears of the Son of God in a way we could never have known otherwise.
We needn’t fear as we enter the clouds of life. They are educative. They are temporary. They are not destructive. They may hide the Lord’s face but not His love and power. So we should take to heart the words of William Cowper:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' Copyright 2007 © William MacDonald. 'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
