“The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3

“Sometimes it is easy to think that God will never right the wrongs of this world, and that the wicked will get away with their wickedness, and that God is either too weak or too immoral to do anything about the horrors of our age. But it is not so. There is judgment coming, and it is only possible to escape from it by taking refuge in God. Take refuge then in him, hide yourself in him, trust in Christ, and receive the good news.” (Godcenteredlife.org commentary)

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone….” so goes the song by Johnny Nash. Nothing can make a day really gloomy like a rainy day. Clouds and misty rain can make even the cheeriest person a little sad. But the reality of life is we will not always have sunny days. Life is about accepting whatever comes our way – rain or sun, clouds or sunshine.

Bad days, trials, tribulations and losses teach us how to see our lives and our relationship with G-d more clearly. As the saying goes, without trouble, there would be little faith. When all is good, when life is happy and without a care in the world, it is not that long before we delude ourselves to believe that we can handle this world on our own. What reason or reasons do we find a need for G-d if nothing ever goes wrong in our lives? But how ridiculous this sounds from the beginning, because none of us will ever live a life where nothing ever goes wrong. Just being alive means we will have bad days and good days and mediocre days.

Whether it is pouring down rain or the clouds are just gathering, or the clouds are finally lifting, isn’t it comforting to think that the presence of clouds means that G-d is present — and that makes us thank G-d for cloudy days.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, help me see you in the good and the bad, in the cold and in the heat, in the sun and in the clouds of each day. Amen.

Pastor Dave