Do you like clouds? I like certain kinds of clouds, like the bright, puffy ones that patch a blue sky, but I really don’t like low, gray clouds that blot out the sun and dull the day into tones of gray. Where we live in Wamena, Indonesia, at 5150 feet elevation, we have a lot of clouds like that, especially in the morning. Sometimes I feel like the overcast skies also dull my spiritual senses and God seems far away.

On one such cloudy morning I was having a time of prayer. I looked out of the window and squinted up dolefully at the gloomy haze. “Lord,” I prayed silently, “Would you help me to see You today?” What I meant was, “Would you clear away the murky clouds so I can see the sun––because I know that will clear my spiritual senses and help me to see you better, too.”

“Do you really want to see me?” came the Lord’s reply in my Spirit. His question shocked me. I had to think about that for a moment. Did I really want to see God? Or did I just want him to dispel the haze so it was easy to connect with him the way that I like to? Did I really care what He was up to? Or did I just want Him to do things my way?

A cloudy morning view from Linda’s window

“Then see me in the clouds,” He whispered back. “I am there too.” A new revelation began to dawn on me. The revelation that God is working just as much in the clouds as He is in my bright, sunny circumstances. The problem is that I don’t like gray clouds––because they’re not fun or cheery or bright. But perhaps they are necessary for His purposes. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Since that morning, when the clouds are low and gray, I try to remember God’s words and to look for Him there. Maybe you can too.