Have you ever been driving down the Bass Highway to Devonport on a winters evening or morning,
to be all of a sudden engulfed by clouds, fog and smog.
At times it can be so dense that you have no idea what is a metre in front of you
Or what is around you.
Your headlights only serve to warn others that there is some other fool on the road at this time of the day.
It is difficult driving in such conditions isn’t it?
And throughout our life we will encounter clouds,
many clouds will surround us
and they hinder our view of life.
At times we will feel like our entire life has been swamped by clouds.
They can make us uncomfortable.
They can hinder our perspective of what is happening and who we are.
They can even mislead us to believe that we are so far off our plans, when in fact we could be right on track but not seeing it.
And in our relationship with God when the clouds are around us we can often feel that God is not present,
when in fact he is right there with us.
When we look at scripture we discover something, God would appear in the cloud.
Listen to this, from Exodus chapter 40 verse 34,
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Now what are some of the clouds in your life?
What are some of the things and events that cloud your life?
What clouds your view of God and the life God intends for you?
Our readings today suggest a number of clouds that can get in the road of us viewing God.
I invite you to join me as we discover these.
Lets begin by opening our bibles to Exodus 24.
We will look specifically at verses 13 and 14.
Please read it with me.
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
Here Moses identifies, and earlier in verse 2, God identifies that people can cloud our relationship with God.
Moses is about to spend so time with God,
and so says if you have any complaints or problems don’t come to me, go to the elders, I need to focus on what God is saying.
Think about your life, how do people cloud your relationship with God.
Maybe it is their ideas about God.
Perhaps they discourage you from spending time with God.
Throughout my life I can think of other Christians who have clearly reflected God’s love to me, and others who have clouded my view of God.
Now people will always be part of our life.
In fact people are key to God’s plan, so totally avoiding them is no the answer.
Rather it is best to understand that if a person discourages us or clouds our view of God then it is the person and not God.
Now lets jump down to verse 18,
Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Now how many of you have spent a solid forty days and forty nights, totally focused on God.
Not many.
And it is not essential for our Christian journey,
but what is that we dedicate a time to spend entirely with God.
But also what can cloud our view of God is our attitude to time.
Some people have said to me unless the worship service is over in 45 minutes I have not heard God,
others have suggested that the times they have heard God is when they have spent at least 2 hours in worship, anything less and they do not feel like they have been in God’s presence.
Our attitudes to time act as a cloud to seeing God.
Can I suggest don’t be overly stressed about the time,
rather be concerned about hearing God.
Also if you have not set aside a dedicated time to share with God as an individual or family,
now is the time to do so.
On Wednesday we begin Lent, some people will begin the Lenten journey by attending the Ash Wednesday service, sacrificing some of their time to spend with God. Don’t let time or your attitude to time cloud your relationship with God.
Lets now turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16.
Lets read it together
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
On numerous occasions people will share something with me that they are convinced is from the bible. Recently when I was helping a family arrange a funeral they wanted to know what book and chapter the Footprints prayer came from.
To their surprise they discovered although it was based on scripture, it was not a direct quote from scripture.
Also many of us have beliefs and ideas about God,
that we have received from family and friend over time.
It is important that we check these out against scripture itself.
Some of these are quite accurate, whilst others at best distort and at worst conflict with what God is saying through His word.
They are based on cleverly invited ideas and stories.
One of the issues that exist is that some people want a nice neat story of Jesus.
One without any paradoxes or inconsistencies.
And they soon begin to feel a little uncomfortable when we begin searching the scriptures together because the story of Jesus as revealed in the scriptures is not a nice neat story,
it is an eye witness account.
Now people working in insurance claims and police investigating crimes have said
when you have eye witness accounts
most of the story will be the same,
however there will be discrepancies, slight variations,
some witnesses will emphasis when aspect of the story,
others another.
And when we look at particularly the four Gospels this is the exact case.
The Gospels are four eye witness accounts of Jesus life, death and resurrection.
They are not all the same, but they are eye witness accounts.
They are not a nice neat story.
This is not a problem,
in fact a policeman once told me,
the times he get suspicious that the story is not true is when the story is too neat.
That all eye witnesses tell exactly the same story,
with the same words.
He said rarely is this possible, because each of the witnesses saw what happened from a different advantage point.
So we need to be aware of the cloud of our desire to have a nice neat story of Jesus.
The Good News is what we have in the bible are accounts of people who were around with Jesus,
and not only use to tell us what Jesus said, but to reveal how he created a future for us.
Now lets turn to Matthew chapter 17 verse 4
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
Peter wanted to keep this experience on the mountain.
And this is a cloud for us too, to keep Jesus and our experience with Him to ourselves.
Some people say that many of us read only part of verse 9 of chapter 17
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen,
Often we are very comfortable with this section of scripture, however we need to read the complete verse.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
And we live in that period, the Son of Man, Jesus has risen from the dead.
Each of us are called to share the Good News about Jesus Christ.
The desires that arise from time to time to keep Jesus to ourselves is a cloud that does not allow us to truly be in a relationship with God
And our final cloud comes from chapter 5,
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
Many people live a life terrified of God.
Sometimes this plays itself our in strange ways.
Like someone being petrified that they may say the wrong thing when praying to God.
Or as a child runs through the church, someone saying God will punish you for that one day.
There is an old song that goes something like this.
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do.
For the Father up above is looking down in love.
Be careful little hands what you do.
However many people seem to interpret like this.
Be careful little hands what you do.
Be careful little hands what you do.
For the Father up above WILL SQUASH YOU LIKE A BUG.
Be careful little hands what you do.
But our relationship with God is not one to be based on fear.
Listen to what God reveals to us our relationship is based on, from 1 John chapter 4 verse 16 to 18
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
I am not saying we should not have reverence for God.
Nor am I saying that we should ignore the cosequences of not following God.
But what I am saying is that we need to be careful that we don’t see God as only a God of judgement.
Someone once said what we reflect is often what we really believe about God.
And if we believe that God is only a God of judgement, then all that people will see is a God to be scared of.
But the truth is scripture reveals something far more revealing about God.
Scripture shows us that God is extremely generous with His love.
That what is most important to our relationship with Him, is simply the fact that God loves us.
And so another of the clouds that can impair our relationship with God is the cloud of fear.
We have seen today that people, time, invented ideas or stories of God, keeping Jesus to ourselves and fear are all clouds that can exist in our life.
They can impair how we see and how we relate to God.
Do you relate to any of these?
So what do we do about them?
The reality is we often can get rid of these clouds in our life.
But firstly by being aware that they have the potential to inhibit how we see God and how we relate to God,
we begin to put them in perspective.
And so we will continue listening to God.
Also remember no matter how difficult life may get because of the clouds, remember God is still amongst the clouds and there are no clouds that can prevent him from revealing himself to us.
CS Lewis in one of his books makes a very profound statement that many people have experienced,
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. Pain is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
It is often in the clouds of life we discover something special about God.
And in the Gospel reading we heard today, from the clouds God spoke, saying
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
And in doing so God revealed to the disciples who have revealed it to us, that Jesus was not just a good bloke, a prophet or a teacher, but the messiah, the one whom we can trust for a future.
Let us pray.
