WHAT DO I SEE

FROM UP HERE?

Part 1

We arrived at our gate on time, and the plane left right on schedule and now we are flying east at about 32,000 feet in the air.  The plane is full and the cabin is calm.  Some people are reading, some are sleeping and some are playing with their “electronic” toys.

 I am fortunate this time to have a window seat, my window to the world up above the clouds.  I have my camera handy to catch pictures of God’s amazing handiwork.  As I gaze out the window I notice the clouds.  And at this moment they look like cotton balls rolled across the heavens.  Off in the distance, especially as we neared our destination there are huge thunderhead clouds.  There are light clouds floating above the cities and towns.

Then I am reminded that Jesus said that He was coming with clouds (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7).  I wonder what it would be like to be raptured from up here.   We could literally “meet Him in the air.”

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words” I Thessalonians 4:16-18.

I also remember in the Old Testament, and the Children of Israel, how God appeared in a cloud by day and fire by night.  And when the Temple was completed in the days of Solomon, how the cloud filled the temple, simply amazing!

Oh, how majestic is our God!  Our minds do not comprehend how awesome He really is.  And being up here in the clouds one can just get a glimpse of his handiwork, His marvelous creation.  Only He could create those awesome clouds, those thunderhead clouds forming in the distance.

“Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered.  For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the midst, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man.  Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, and thunder from His canopy?  Look, He scatters His light upon it and covers the depths of the sea” Job 36:28-30.

What a marvelous portion of Scripture!  How can we ever understand the rain, the thunder, and how He spreads out those clouds, and sometimes the clouds were dark and the light was seen behind them.  I remember as we traveled home, traveling west and it was dark as we traveled but one could see the golden light across the horizon as we neared the west coast.  And we cannot understand the thunder that booms and the lightening which streaks across the sky, as we saw those great and mighty thunderhead clouds.

“At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place.  Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.  He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth.  After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard” Job 37:1-5.

When visiting our daughter, we observed the lightening as it lit up the sky and we heard the thunder roll, and then the rain and the wind came.  It was an awesome display of God’s power, and it was indeed as if His voice was thundering across the sky.  We were in awe, as we don’t often see this kind of storm in the area where we live. 

And yes, our hearts do pound as we see God’s mighty power displayed.  Next time you are in such a storm, listen to God’s majestic voice and bow in Praise to our Mighty God!

“The heavens tell the glory of God.  The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known.  They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world” Psalm 19:1-4

God’s mighty creation speaks to the end of the earth, and the stars make Him known at night.  Everywhere, in all the world, His mighty creation is seen.  Paul tells us in Romans 1, that man is without excuse, because God’s creation is seen.

So how can one not look at the sky, or fly above the clouds, and look down on God’s mighty creation, and not know or want to know Him?  And when flying at night, I observed the stars and they seemed so close.  At one point, there was a full moon in the sky and it was partially covered by clouds, amazing!

Do you know Him, my friend?  Have you once known Him and drifted away in your walk with the Lord?  Go outside on a cloudy day and look up at the heavens and observe the clouds.  Observe them after a rainstorm, or when the sun is going down.  Go outside at night and observe the stars.  And if you are flying, see if you can sit in a window seat and look out over the clouds and see our Mighty God at work and feel His Mighty presence and His love.  God Bless you!

In His Name,

Pastor Sharon