Storm Season - The Storm of Presence
- Paul Downie
- 2 minutes ago
- 14 min read
Exodus 19:9 NIV
[9] The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.19.9.NIV)
I experienced my first proper electrical storm in Transilvania.
How many people get to say that?
I was working with a church in Mediaș, Romania. A storm had been forecast. As I bought my dinner that night, I could feel it coming. The air was cooler. More humid. The hairs on the back of my neck were tingling. The skies were beginning to darken with heavy black clouds.
I knew it was time to take shelter.
I headed into my apartment moments before thunder and lightning rolled over the mountains and crackled and boomed their way right over my apartment block.
It was utterly spectacular.
Storms in nature can feel chaotic. That’s only really because they are completely out of our control. However, they are also a statement of God’s power and sovereignty. They are a strong reminder that we are really not in charge. Not one bit.
What we saw in our last study, and we see in this one, is the Lord’s presence associated with a cloud.
Now, it has to be said that clouds often have a mixed press. You might not appreciate the sight of dark clouds descending if you have clothing drying outside. Low cloud that causes fog is also not exactly considered a good thing.
But if you are in a dry, drought-beset country and you see rain clouds on the horizon, you are going to be praying for them to come closer.
Here in the Old Testament, and also in the New (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 8:34), a cloud is associated with God’s Presence.
The question we will ask ourselves is: why? Why is an object universally associated with bad weather and a lack of clarity used as a symbol of the Presence of God?
And what does that teach is about His influence on the storms and the lack of clarity in our lives?
So let’s look firstly at that Presence in the Cloud.
The Presence in the Cloud
Exodus 33:19-23 NIV
[19] And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. [20] But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” [21] Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. [22] When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [23] Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.33.19-23.NIV)
As I was writing these very words, my wife's niece sent us a message she had seen from the Philippine weather office PAGASA. A large tropical storm was forecast to hit their area.
Such events cause anxiety. We gaze up at the clouds and pray, wondering how severe it will be this time. We watch the clouds, fearful that the weather could cause us serious damage.
Yet the cloud in Moses' day performed another function. Clouds in the Holy of Holies were a symbol of God's Presence there (Leviticus 16:2; 1 Kings 8:10). Moses had seen the form of the Lord and spoken to Him directly (Numbers 12:5-8). In the verses we are studying, even Moses is called to enter a cloud to meet with God. He is being called to a situation where his vision would not be clear, where he would need to walk carefully (he was not, after all, a young man) and where much of his experience would be of the unknown.
Have you ever wondered why that is?
The reason why is simple, but quite profound: the experience he was about to have with God was deeper in the cloud than it would be in the valley. God was calling Him to a closer, more profound relationship than he could even have had inside the Tabernacle.
It was an experience of faith: of trust in God when He could not see the pathway ahead.
God is utterly holy. God was utterly apart from Moses and his people. The cloud was not just to stretch their faith but to keep them safe, as God explained to Moses later on: their sinful nature meant that they could not see God’s face.
It had always been the case, and always will be the case, that we experience more of God in the storm clouds of life, when nothing is clear and we can barely see one step ahead, than in the clear vision of the valley below. I have known this in every day life. I have known it as a missionary.
We experience more of Him because we are more acutely aware of our need of Him. We can't see the way ahead and so we are depending on Him to lead and guide us.
If God today is asking you to head into the cloud with Him and walk into the unknown, don’t be afraid: He is there with you.
In fact, He is often the reason for the cloud. And that’s what we will look at next. Having seen the presence in the cloud, we will now examine The Purpose of the Cloud.
The Purpose of the Cloud
Exodus 19:9 NIV
[9] The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.19.9.NIV)
I don’t know if you have ever experienced fog. I mean, a real pea-souper where you can barely see your hand in frond of your face. I have. I have experienced fog so dense that the streetlights cast rainbows through it and I could see droplets of water dance in their glow.
It’s very strange to walk in thick fog. You have to be extra careful. You can’t always see other people and they can’t always see you. And that’s how things are on the pavement. If you need to cross the road, it’s worse.
You need to exercise caution. Care. Attention. You need to be patient.
God was manifesting His presence in a dense cloud – fog is basically low cloud. He was showing His glory to the Israelites in a way that they would come to no harm despite His overwhelming glory, yet He would invite Moses, an old man, into that cloud.
Why?
It just so happens that a breaking news story this morning has given me the perfect illustration. Our government in the UK wants to give people a simple and infallible way to prove their right to work. To do so, they want everyone in our country to have a digital government ID. They want us to be able to prove who we are.
The only people who have anything to lose from such a scheme are those who have something to hide: who do not want to be able to prove their identity.
Why is that important and relevant to our verses?
Because of where we are in Jewish history. The Israelites had been freed from slavery in Egypt by a series of miracles. The Israelites had originally responded to this with an outpouring of joy and celebration (Exodus 15:1-21).
But it didn’t take them long to start complaining. In fact, it seemed that they lost faith in God and His ability to lead them to the Promised Land as soon as they hit the slightest bit of trouble.
They moaned about a lack of water (Exodus 15:22-27). They moaned about a lack of food (Exodus 16). The moaned again about a lack of water (Exodus 17:1-7).
God gave them the opportunity to become His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5-6). There could be little doubt that they were not there yet.
Now, on the edges of the slopes of Mount Sinai, God was about to take that relationship further. He was about to give them the requirements of His covenant. He was about to tell them what it would take to truly be His treasured possession.
He was about to build them into a nation.
But to do that, they needed to trust Him and obey Him. And to do that, they needed to see Him has He is.
Hence the amped up special effects on the mountaintop. God was showing them His glory: who was truly in charge.
Exodus 19:16-19 NIV
[16] On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. [17] Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. [18] Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. [19] As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.19.16-19.NIV)
God was giving this rebellious, cantankerous people an opportunity to see Him as He is, and that involved a dark cloud to prevent them from perishing on sight of His glory.
Moses had experienced God speaking to him face to face (Exodus 33:11). There is no-one else on earth who had the same level of intimacy with God as Moses had – except for Jesus Himself.
Yet there was a level of intimacy and closeness even Moses could not have unless he entered into that dark cloud with God – which he did (Exodus 24:9-11).
The purpose of the cloud was to act as a means of identity – to show who God is, and of intimacy – to allow Moses and the selected leaders to have a closer relationship with God and to ratify the covenantal relationship between them.
There are often times in life where we are asked to step into the dark cloud of the unknown.
Some of us will have passed through goofy team-building trust exercises. They have a slight similarity to this – except this is with Almighty God. God often calls us away from the comfort zone into places of uncertainty and risk, and some where we will not be able to see more than a few steps ahead.
But He does it for a good reason: to prove His identity and show that He is truly God; and to built intimacy and trust with Him.
The question is: are we, like Moses, willing to step into the dark cloud?
Apart from the presence in the cloud and the purpose of the cloud, we also see The Voice From The Cloud.
The Voice From The Cloud
Exodus 20:1-3 NIV
[1] And God spoke all these words: [2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. [3] “You shall have no other gods before me.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.1-3.NIV)
This is where things get really interesting. The Israelites have escaped slavery. They are in the desert, at the foot of a mountain. The Promised Land is still some distance away, with its mighty armies and pagan occupants. Now, if any, was the time when they were looking for directions from God. Maybe some pathways through the desert from one oasis to the next. Maybe some military tactics.
What they get is the Ten Commandments, spoken by God and written by His finger on tablets of stone.
The great unknown lay ahead of them: the desert heat, hostile powers, unknown peoples and languages and cultures. Yet God did not give them a single piece of guidance on directions through the desert or tactics to train on.
Instead, He taught His people right from wrong.
They were still in the dark cloud of not knowing. But He didn’t show them a path through it. Instead, He told them the right place to put their feet next.
That might seem like a strange thing to do. After all, many of us know that feeling of launching out into the unknown: of having to choose subjects at school, or university courses, or careers, or spouses or houses. The lack of clarity might bother us. We'd like a long term plan: a checklist of things to tick off to show ourselves and others how close we are to where we want to be, firm in the knowledge that we will get there.
But God does not give us that. Instead, He gives us commands to obey.
Why?
It’s simple, but profound. Our focus is often on temporal things: things we need now for now or for our not too distant future. These things are important – to us. God knows that.
But the things of eternal value are much more important:
2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
[18] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2co.4.18.NIV)
God’s priority is on the type of people we are: on our character, mindset, behaviour. He is looking for us to be the kind of people who live a life that pleases and glorifies Him, first and foremost. When we obey Him and live His way, that is when our life starts to be lived properly. That’s why we see verses like this:
Proverbs 3:5-8 NIV
[5] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. [7] Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. [8] This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.3.5-8.NIV)
Matthew 6:33-34 NIV
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.33-34.NIV)
It’s always fun when you take a small child to the supermarket. You have to be really careful not to push your trolley too close to the shelves or you end up with a load of things in your trolley that you had no intention of buying. As a parent, your aim is to buy delicious, nutritious food for your child that will make them grow up healthy and strong. But they don’t care about that. They care about bright packaging or candy or toys they've seen on TV.
When they can’t get what they want, they often throw a huge strop, which makes you look like you are depriving them of something good, when you're not.
Often that is how we approach times of uncertainty. Knowledge of a detailed plan for our lives is the shiny thing that we really want. But what’s good for us is relying on God each day and trusting Him through the cloud and the storm. That is why we see these verses:
Lamentations 3:21-24 NIV
[21] Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: [22] Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. [24] I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/lam.3.21-24.NIV)
Matthew 6:34 NIV
[34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.34.NIV)
Our troubles would ease considerably if we stopped focusing on discerning a path ahead, and instead focused on making sure our next step is in obedience to God.
Conclusion
Exodus 19:9 NIV
[9] The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.19.9.NIV)
Meeting someone in dense fog is weird. You might see the outline of their shape or hear their voice, but it feels much more natural to see them clearly, face to face.
Often life feels like a dense fog in an unfamiliar place. We can’t see more than a few moments in front of us. Our future feels dazed and fuzzy. We feel disoriented and lost. What makes it worse is that it’s often in these situations, when we simply don’t have all the information, that we find ourselves making big decisions that can affect the course of our lives for years.
God wanted the Israelites to make such a decision. He wanted them to be His people. But for this to happen, they had to trust Him in a dark cloud where they could not see Him.
Moses did so. But not all of the Israelites did. After the Ten Commandments were given, Moses, by now eighty years old, ascended the mountain to commune with God (Exodus 20:21).
But the Israelites could not handle the fog of not knowing. They could not trust in God or Moses. This is what happened next:
Exodus 32:1 NIV
[1] When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.32.1.NIV)
In their rush for certainty and clarity, this was their mistake:
Psalms 106:21-22 NIV
[21] They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, [22] miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.106.21-22.NIV)
They forgot! Can you imagine? They forgot!
They had seen the Ten Plagues. They had experienced the incredible drama of the Red Sea crossing. They had seen the bloated bodies of the once mighty Egyptian army washing ashore on the other side. They had been fed bread and quail in the middle of the desert. They had seen God manifest Himself on the top of the mountain in the form of a dark thunderous cloud and fire and earth tremors (Exodus 19:18).
Yet they forgot it all! And in worshipping a bull calf (Exodus 32:4), they were both worshipping something from Egyptian mythology and a Canaanite god. This was an incredible betrayal. They bowed down to the god of both a foe who had been defeated and who would be defeated.
All because of a search for certainty and clarity, instead of being patient and waiting on God.
There is a serious message for us here.
All of us at some point in our lives will step out of our comfort zones into a new experience – often more than once. All of us will launch into the great unknown and find ourselves in the dark cloud when all we can do is just put one foot in front of another.
When we find ourselves in that cloud, panic and spiralling emotions will do us no good. They don’t help us get put of the cloud, they make it darker and more impenetrable. No-one ever made it out of a labyrinth by sinking to their knees and crying.
No, the only way we can find our way out of the cloud is to seek the Presence in the cloud – the One who deliberately sent it so that we could get closer to Him. That is the purpose of the cloud: that we would draw closer to God and our faith would grow. We also need to be aware that the only way the cloud will dissipate is if we heed and obey the Voice within the cloud.
After all, what was the words the disciples heard from God on the Mount of Transfiguration?
Matthew 17:5 NIV
[5] While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.17.5.NIV)
That ‘listen’ does not mean the passive way in which we listen to muzak in a supermarket, but active listening where we obey.
When you find yourself in a thick fog, the key is not to panic, but to concentrate on taking one step at a time and to ensure that each step counts.
When the storms of life leave you in a fog, that is what we must do: not panic because we don’t know the way out, but seek and obey God and make sure that the next step counts.
If we do that, then one day the fog will clear.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I don’t know everything about by life and my future but You do. I commit myself to not panic about what lies ahead of me, but to trusting You, obeying You and making sure that my next step counts. Help me and guide me in this, I pray. Amen.
Questions for Contemplation
Why did God show Himself within a cloud? What was He trying to do for the Israelites and to teach them?
What can this teach us for the days when we don’t know what’s happening and feel like we are in a fog?
Did the Israelites always listen to this? What can we learn from their mistakes?
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