Holy Spirit as Cloud

The Lord went in front of them as a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way. ~ Exodus 13:21a

 And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness and the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. ~ Exodus 16:10

 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part, then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ~ I Corinthians 13:12

 Whatever you do not know or have forgotten is dark to you, because you do not see it with your spiritual eyes. For this reason, that which is between you and God is termed, not a cloud of the air, but a cloud of unknowing. ~ Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing
I've said more than once - including in this devotion - that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.

 We think we know God. We think we've got God's number.

 But in the part of Paul's most famous passage that isn't the most famous part (the one on love), Paul reminds us that we don't even know what we don't know!

 We aren't seeing things clearly.

 It's like we are seeing through a hazed over mirror; glasses with our old prescription; a veil.

 A cloud.

 We get part of it. Maybe even a big part. Maybe even the most important parts.

 Enough to follow. Enough to see that cloud ahead leading us.

 But there is still that haze. That part of God that God keeps from us. The part of God we just can't know.

 Not yet.

 And yet...

 WE are known. Fully known.

 And that is where we can put our faith. That we have a God who, despite keeping parts hidden from us, knows and loves us deeply.

 Faith is being able to reside in that uncertainty.

 To trust that love. To trust that love even when there is a cloud that covers the bits we just wish we could see but can't yet.
Prayer: Help me to see what you would have me see, and to trust even when I am confused by what I do see. Amen 



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