Can We See God On A Cloudy Day?

As the Heavens
Originally uploaded by auntjojo

The Isaiah text for this week concludes with the familiar phrase, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways..."
I set out to take a beautiful heavens picture this morning, but awoke to gray sky. Perhaps the gray is a bit more fitting. I like to think of Gods thoughts being brilliant blue with bright white clouds floating by. I like to think of the heavens full of stars and a bright shining moon. But the reality is that God's thoughts often seem more gray and cloudy than bright and clear. Walking through the gray is an exercise in trust and faithfulness. On a gray day, however, it is also true that the sky is nearer to us. The clouds are lower. God is not lofty and light years away. Rather God is the mist settling on this earth, surrounding us, enveloping us, comforting us. Jurgen Moltmann speaks of God's immanent transcendence, the reality that the wholly other, other-wordly God is right here with us, very much a part of this world, closer to us than we can ever imagine. High above and deep within... a reality made visible as Jesus makes his way to the cross this Lenten season.