The day dawned wet and raw. I felt as limp as the gray flannel sky. I was leaving for meetings and didn’t feel either willing to leave home or prepared to go. And I felt I deserved to feel miserable, and to inflict it on those around me. Somehow I said my goodbyes and boarded the plane. The engines roared to life, and the aircraft lifted off the sodden runway into the sullen clouds. The plane lurched and bounced through the turbulent air. For a few moments nothing could be seen out my window but swirling gray. And then it happened.
We broke out into calm blue sky as far as the eye could see. From the upper side, the clouds looked puffy and white. The golden sun shone through the little porthole, onto my upturned face, into my soul. And just as sudden as the change outside, a snatch of a song broke through the inclement weather in my heart:
Never fear tho’ shadows dark around your path may fall;
Do not let your heart be troubled;
From His throne in heaven God is watching over all,
He will ever care for you.
Back of the clouds the sun is always shining,
After the storms your skies will all be blue;
God has prepared a rosy-tinted lining,
Back of the clouds it’s waiting to shine through.
Keep the light of hope eternal dwelling in your heart,
Rest upon the Father’s promise,
And you’ll find that cares and worry quickly will depart,
Heaven’s peace will enter in (C. R. Freeman).
Those rays of sunshine had travelled 93 million miles to reach me and I believed then, as I do now, that they came right from God: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Sunshine was His idea, and evidently the apostle thought that there was a relationship between sunlight and Sonlight. In each case the shining came directly from His heart.
This issue of Uplook features articles on the wonderful Epistle to the Hebrews. It is radiant with the light of heaven. Everywhere the Lord Jesus is seen in His surpassing glories. But there are clouds in the book, too.
The clouds of Gradualism (2:1-3): If we do not give “earnest heed” to what we have “heard,” the truths which we ought to hold dear will drift away from us. The word “slip” means “to flow past, to glide by” (Vine’s). Almost imperceptibly the dark clouds of “neglect” (v. 3) block out the light and leave us chilled and uncertain of the way to escape the coming deluge. Let us affirm what was confirmed (v. 3) to us.
The clouds of Agnosticism (3:7-19): “Better to believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts than to believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs.” We say we trust in an all-wise, all-powerful, loving God.
Do we act like that? Martin Luther, who had been “under the weather” spiritually, awoke one day to find his wife dressed in mourning. “Who died?” he asked. “God did,” she replied. “Foolishness,” retorted Luther. “Why would you say such a thing?” “That’s how you’re acting,” she replied.
“Let us therefore fear”–take God seriously–lest we allow the storms of doubt to sweep our minds rather than calling on the One who in a moment can speak His “Shalom!” and bring immediate calm.
The clouds of Dwarfism (5:11-14): Little sins rob us of great blessing. Only a thin mist blocks out the sun. Inattention to the Word, frittered hours, day-dreaming life away, petty quarrels, and spiritual lethargy keep us from growing strong in the Lord. Cut off from the influence of heaven’s light, we grow limp, unable to draw up the deep things of God. “Let us go on to [maturity]” (6:1). “…be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (v. 12).
The clouds of Pessimism (10:32-37): It isn’t easy to live under a cloud. The early believers (and many saints today) at first “took joyfully” the spoiling of their goods because they saw beyond the storms and knew that in heaven they had “a better and an enduring substance.” But as the clouds lingered they found “reproaches and afflictions” hard to bear, and were tempted to cast away their confidence instead of casting their care on Him. We have the same choice now. Let’s live in the Sonshine.