Clouded View

My host for the week drove us about an hour outside Lava,AR, where I preached a revival meeting, to Mount Magazine. Rain descended and clouds hung low. As we neared the mountain what I saw left me awed. Beautiful trees with changing leave colors ascending up the tower of rock.

We drove winding our way to the top while the rain continued to fall. The colors looked like paint splashes with brilliant reds, oranges and multiple shades of brown on the foilage. Living in Texas all my life I have not always enjoyed seeing real fall seasons.

As we neared the top we drove into the low clouds. It was like driving in dense fog. At times we could only see a few yards in front of us on the road. When we turned into the scenic overlook we could not see anything. The clouds blocked our view of other mountains in the distance and the beautiful trees below. We only saw the cloud.

I still loved the trip but I would have enjoyed it so much more if I had been able to see everything. That did not mean the beautiful scenery had disappeared. From our vantage point it was not visible. The mountains and the trees with their brilliant colored leaves were still there. I had see many on them on the side of the road as we drove up. Yet the cloud obscured our views from seeing from a distance. That got me to thinking.

There are many cloud-like circumstances in the lives of people. From their clouded views they may not be able to see clearly. They may even doubt whether God is even there. Just because the view gets clouded does not negate the fact He is there. He is the most real thing in the universe.

I hope to remember this lesson. A lesson when a cloud engulfed mountain obscured my view. Sometimes the pain, the trials, the disappointments and sorrows cloud the view. We are to look closer through the eyes of faith that help see the greater realities. God is still there and He is still working.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.