Nebulosity

Saturday 12/17/2011 7:07 AM

When I left for my morning run today there was a large cloud to the southeast that seemed a little different.  Often a cumulus cloud is flat on the bottom with the top sculpted like a broccoli floret but this cloud had a small amount of that sculpted look on the bottom.  I began my run to the north and the west, as is my custom, and when I turned around after a couple of miles the cloud was in the same place but now highlighted with the rays of the sunrise.  The sun was illuminating its bottom, sculpted features while the remainder of the cloud was black.  The cloud, framed by the sunrise, was awe-inspiring and reminded me of a television show I watched last night on star formation.  The pictures of the nebulae from that program looked almost the same as the cloud.

I started thinking about star formation and how the clouds of dust and gas are compressed by gravity and, over time, heat up enough to begin nuclear fusion.  Then the star comes to life and begins to shine, maintaining a critical balance between collapsing because of gravitational pull and exploding because of the nuclear reaction.  In the visible spectrum of light we can’t see the stars forming because they are obscured by all the dust and gas of the cloud but the cloud is a womb where stars are birthed deep within, out of sight.

The womb in which God’s children are born is often the same.  Dark clouds of adversity press in on someone who, in their desperation, calls on God.  The fire of God’s Spirit enters in, igniting faith, which maintains a critical balance between the crushing adversity and the growing faith.  Over time, God’s Spirit continues to move, molding the person into the image of Christ so that, as Philippians 2:17 says, they “shine like stars of the universe.”

In my life I want to avoid the dark clouds of adversity and I pray that prayer regularly for those I love and for myself.  In reality, a time of adversity is the nursery for nurturing and producing the light of Christ in my life.  In Psalm 18 David speaks about being entangled in the cords of death and being overwhelmed by torrents of destruction early in the psalm and then he cries out to God.  The God to whom he cries is described in this way, “Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.  He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.  He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.  He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him–the dark rain clouds of the sky.  Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.”  David then goes on to tell of his deliverance by this awe-inspiring God, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.  He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.  He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”  For David, the dark clouds represented the presence and the deliverance of God rather than his judgment.  James 1:2-4 reminds me, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.”

I long to have that kind of perspective so that when adversity comes I will welcome it, knowing that God will be with me in the middle of it and he will use it to help me mature in my faith.