You have likely heard the expression, “My head was in the clouds”. People often say it when they want others to know that they weren’t concentrating or thinking clearly about something at the time.
This is kind of the way I would describe my understanding of a well-known biblical account of the Jews, when they were wandering in the desert with Moses … under a cloud.
“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” Exodus 13: 21-22
So, for all of these years, the only thing I concluded was that the cloud communicated God’s presence, and His chosen way to lead His people during the day. Yet, it wasn’t until recently that I learned that the cloud also was an example of His protection.
I came to this realization when I read Psalm 105, for in verses 39-40, I read:
39 He spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night.
40 They asked, and he brought them quail;
he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
Now, I had read Psalm 105 many times, but this time I found myself saying, “Oh, wait a minute. The cloud also was protection from the sun. It was a protective covering. If God had not manifested His presence in this way, then the Israelites would have been scorched by the desert sun. God truly was their shield (from the sun) in one of the most literal examples we can find in the Bible! Coming to understand this had me uttering, “How did you miss that Rob?” I now realize that all this time, my head had been “in the cloud(s)”, and I had missed the obvious. Praise God for breaking through my thick skull!
In the same way, we can consider that in the pillar of fire God He displayed His presence, and that He provided light for the Israelites to walk by.
So, why am I sharing this with you? Because coming to understand these things made me marvel (yet again) at how God meets our needs in such practical ways. Amazingly, we sometimes don’t understand how He is doing it. Can you imagine how many times God has provided protection for us through people, or circumstances, and we don’t even recognize that He is involved? Imagine the grace He has shown us through a best friend, a parent or a child. Imagine the protection He has provided through a car, our home, or directing our paths in some way. There we are, going along, thinking that everything is just swell, and we have no idea how God had interceded and kept us from calamity or hardship. We are staring right at our proverbial “cloud” and not knowing that God was shielding us through it. Sometimes, all we think is, “what a cloudy and gloomy day when all along God is keeping things from getting worse.
I imagine someday when we are with the Lord, He will help us to see things more clearly. Perhaps then, He will show us all the “clouds” he provided as He tenderly cared for us. I believe that this is one of the reasons that we will be filled with praise to God for all eternity. Until that day, I will praise Him because of how he is an ever-present help, whether I see all that He is doing, or not.
And, for now … I can pray that He keeps my head out of the clouds.
For Jesus,
Rob