One of the comments I hear every spring at least a couple times is, “Boy, it sure is nice to see the summertime clouds again.” It is a wonderful cycle that God has set up in the way He transports water from one place to another. There is one point in the cycle that I would like to highlight and that is: Dew Point.
Dew Point is the point at which the water in the air converts from a vapor to a liquid; the air has become saturated and water droplets form. It is a complex culmination of temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, convection, and some other meteorological factors. Without getting deep into this complex process the simple truth is that Dew Point is the point at which water becomes visible to us. The vapor rises from the earth as the sun heats it, as the air rises it cools at a rate of approximately 5 degrees F per thousand feet. Eventually, all the factors come together and droplets form the clouds we see. As the droplets continue to rise they continue to cool forming bigger and bigger droplets until they can no longer remain suspended in the air and fall as rain to the earth again. So the cycle continues. The Creator’s design is awesome in its completeness.
Metaphorically, clouds seem to represent trouble. This is understandable because clouds are normally associated with storms, and we have all be harassed and sometimes beaten by the storms of life. But there is at least one example in scripture that gives a different perspective. In I Kings chapter 18 we have the account of Elijah the Prophet in Israel. Please take a moment to review this account as I am going to paraphrase here. Earlier Elijah had driven a stake in the ground before God and the nation of Israel up on the mountain by calling out the prophets of Baal. So after Baal is defeated one would think that it was enough to call it a day but Elijah goes a step further. He tells King Ahab to prepare himself because it was going to rain. In spite of the fact that it had not rained in several years, Elijah once again scaled Mt. Carmel and began to pray. Seven times he sent the servant to look towards the sea, on the last trip the servant reported a cloud the size of a man’s hand coming out of the sea. Elijah sprang into action and went to warn King Ahab that he better getting moving, rain was on the way. Then the power of God came upon him and he ran ahead of the chariot all the way to Jezreel.
I think that this account illustrates beautifully what happens when we pray in the picture of a cloud. Our prayers rise like a vapor into the presence of God. As we persist, we saturate His presence with those prayers and when He answers it is similar to rain in that it revives and heals us. The conditions God has laid out for this are stated in II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people…will humble themselves and pray…I will heal their land.” This He accomplishes as faithfully as the conditions that He set to carry water across the face of the earth. Imagine, if you will, what would happen if the body of Christ would put their heads between their knees as Elijah did on top of Mt. Carmel!
I hope that you will never again look at a cloud and let it pass unnoticed. Similarly, as you see clouds form around your prayers, react in faith and know that you are about to be restored, renewed, and revived; God is allowing you to see the beginnings of the result of your prayers, for your prayers have saturated His presence.
His Kid, Your Brother
Ken
His Kid, Your Brother 