I love clouds! I use to tease my mother because she would use a whole roll of film just taking pictures of clouds. I know she looks down & chuckles every time I take 1600 cloud pictures! Praise God for digital photos :) Clouds are so unique & not a single one has a twin. The clouds give texture & life to an otherwise bland blue canvas called the sky.
I am not saying that the clear blue sky is not beautiful - it is beautiful all in and of itself. But add some clouds and it's as if it comes alive in a new way! It's like the clouds reveal the splendor that was there in such vibrant majesty! Clouds come and go as nature wills them to. Sometimes they bring rain, snow, hail - sometimes they simply bring covering from the sun. Whatever their purpose may be - they have a purpose.
I move about my day sometimes on automatic pilot - not thinking to much about what comes next because life moves in a fairly regular routine. Occasionally, (sometimes more then I would like) the storm pounces. It can knock me down. It can be a nuisance and mess up the routine. Sometimes I find myself shaking my fist demanding answers - demanding the whys of this disruption. I want what I think is my right - to know the answers AND that things be put back in the right order so I can get on with the routine - the mundane.
Then the Creator so gently & graciously (firmly at times) says,
"Were you there when time began?
Did you enclose the oceans telling them to stay in their boundaries?
Have you ever told the sun to come up or tell it to go down?
Did you put the clouds in the sky?
I am God - You are not.
Do you trust me enough that even in this chaos I will still be in control?
Do YOU trust ME to make beauty out of this mess?
Sit back and watch the beauty that is hidden in these clouds
Rest in the full knowledge that there will be so much good come from this storm
Your only response will be giving Me praise & living in the freedom I so much want for you."
If I could look at life's 'storms' with the same depth of appreciation and awe as I look at the clouds in the sky maybe - just maybe the storms wouldn't be so bad. And I could remember the importance isn't so much in the clouds but the Creator.
I have so much enjoyed the study we have been doing on the 10 commandments at church. Everyone knows the 10 commandments! Most of us have heard them at some point in our lives. I am sure I am not the only one who - after reading through them - find myself saying, "Well at least I haven't broken THAT one!"
What I am realizing through this study is that we are ALL guilty of falling short of ALL of them! Maybe not in action but certainly in attitude or spirit. For some reason this has reminded me of the story in John 8 when Jesus is confronted with the Adulterous woman. Here is the passage in the New Living Translation:
Jesus returned to the
Mount of Olives,but early the next morning He was back again
at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and He sat down and taught them. As He was speaking, the teachers of
religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act
of adultery.They put her in front of the crowd
"Teacher,” they said
to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They
were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but
Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger.They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first
stone!” Then He stooped down again and wrote in
the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they
slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left
in the middle of the crowd with the woman.Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers?
Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No,
Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I.
Go and sin no more.”
So many things about this story has always intrigued me! One of the things that catches my attention is "Where is the Man!?" Jewish law stated that anyone caught in adultery meant immediate stoning to death - for the woman AND the man. So where was He? Why was only the woman brought? One of those questions for when I am sitting around heaven with Jesus;)
The other thing that has always peeked my curiosity has been - what was He writing? Have you ever wondered what it was?? Maybe He was writing down their names & what sins they had committed? Maybe He was writing down the 10 commandments? THIS question is always at the top of my list!
And one last thing - I had not realized until recently that the accusers had left but the crowd was still there - watching all of this unfold. They stood and watched everything that had transpired. Some of them might have even picked up stones - ready to pass 'judgement' when given the word. Yet, we don't know what they were thinking or what their opinion was of the scene taking place in front of them. But I'd like to know~
Yet, putting all of that aside - the thing that has always struck me about this is that Jesus - being fully man & fully God had every right to condemn this woman. The unholy stood naked & dirty in front of the Holy. I can't even imagine the emotions going through this womans head. Anger? Frustration? Fear?
We don't know but we can probably all sympathize - we have all been caught doing things we shouldn't. We feel angry we got caught. We are frustrated we got caught. We are fearful of the consequences. We stand and wait (or cower & wait) for the shoe to drop.
We await the punishment that is ours!
It's deserved!
We wait. . . .
And wait. . . . .
The accuser then looks you in the eye & opens His mouth,
"All is forgiven! Your debt is paid in full! I took care of it so you don't have to worry about it!
Now go & live in the freedom I have given you, BUT don't sin anymore!
I have so much more for you then to stay in your sin.
My love for you will never change. My love will always be sufficient.
I know you will fall & stumble because I know you inside & out
Remember Me! Remember that My grace will ALWAYS be sufficient
And come spend time with Me - it's one of the highlights of My day!
But go now - Sin No More. And remember I love you~"
We don't know what happened to this woman - Did she go and sin no more? Did she ever realize that she had stood in the presence of the Holy & survived? She was given a second chance~ Did she realize salvation stared her in the face?
Just like me - just like you. Because of Christs finished work on the cross our unholiness is now covered by His holiness~ What ever our sin (and we ALL sin) He stands ready to pardon, ready to love us! When we take His pardon, His cleansing - He cleans us up & tells us to sin no more.
I think the reason this intrigues me is that in our world today we are told to accept people the way they are. That people can choose to live life anyway they want. They know God loves them and that Jesus died for them yet they pull out the grace card & say, "I don't have to change because God loves me the way I am."
I believe this with all my heart - God does love us just as we are. Doesn't matter what we do or what we will do in the future His love does not change. But because He is holy and His character demands holiness. He never intends for ANY OF US to stay where we are. He never intends for us to continue to live in our sin. Continuing to stay in the sin when He has given us the victory OVER the sin is like a person who falls into a deep pit & someone comes along to help them out. They accept the help and climbs out but then jump right back in. That is NOT how He ever intended for us to live.
Take the hand that is extended - grab hold and get out! He will not only help you out but He will fill in the pit for you so you can live life the way He intended. Then He will not only tell you to go & sin no more but He will give you His Spirit Who will then help you live above that sin that weighed you down.
Jesus Christ is the ONLY reason we could ever "go & sin no more". Praise the One Who Paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!Jesus paid it ALL~
