In the Bible, clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or twists of providence that seem to challenge his rule. Seen apart from God, clouds look like accidents. But by these very clouds the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. Without clouds, we would not need faith.
“Look, he is coming with the clouds.” Clouds are nothing more than the dust of our Father’s feet; they are the sign that he is here. God never comes in clear shining. What a revelation it is to know that sadness and bereavement and suffering are the clouds that come along with God!
It isn’t true that God wants us to learn something in our trials. Through every cloud he brings, he wants us to unlearn the things that are keeping us from a simple relationship to him. Sometimes we have to leave certain forms of religious activity and testimony alone until our relationship to God is simplified—until we have learned to turn to God, not to other people, for all our needs. The thought I should have is, “God and my own soul; other people are shadows.” Until other people become shadows, clouds and darkness will be mine every now and again. Is my relationship to God getting simpler than it ever has been?
There is a connection between the strange providences of God and what we know of him. We have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Unless we can look the darkest, most atrocious fact in the face without questioning God’s character, we do not yet know him. “They were afraid as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone besides Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker. You must get to the place where there is no one besides him.
