Exodus 24:12, 15-18  12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”  … 15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.  17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.  18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Clouds can represent both highs and lows in life. We don’t always feel like we are “on cloud nine.” Sometimes we speak of living life under a cloud or say that a dark cloud is hanging over us. We often associate living under a cloud with depression or a troubled mind. When it is cloudy, we find our vision obscured and unclear. We think it would be good to always be up, but that is impossible and unrealistic. Even Jesus, after revealing a part of His glory in the Transfiguration, had to return to the valley of life with its trials and troubles. He still had the cross in His future.

Good times and bad, agony and ecstasy provide the balance that makes up our lives. It was true of the Children of Israel, and it is true of us in our contemporary struggles. The Israelites struggled through the wilderness after God delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. They had good news, bad news, and more good news. The Good news was their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The Bad news was that because of their lack of trust and confidence in God they would wander in the wilderness for forty years. The Good news was that the Promised Land was still in their future.

It is the same for us. The Good News is that God has rescued us from our slavery to sin and death through Christ. The Bad news is the agony of life in this world with its failures and struggles and heartaches. The Good News is God’s promise of a victorious life provided by His Grace in Christ Jesus. We have that certainty now, even though we still live in a world full of problems and heartaches.

Atmospheric clouds are called “cirrus” or “cumulus” depending on their height from the ground. To use a play on words, the clouds in our lives can be “serious” and “cumulative.”  In fact, cumulus and cumulative come from the same root, which means to pile up. Life sometimes piles things up on us. Accidents, deaths among family and friends, trouble in the workplace, strife in the home, illness — often they all seem to come at once. The clouds seems cumulative.

Something you should ask yourself is “Who’s behind the cloud?” In the passage above it was God the Lawgiver. Moses was invited to come up and beyond the cloud to receive the tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. This was something that should be taken seriously. Though they were given in love, those Commandments represented God’s expectations for people. When we go against them, we should expect God’s wrath. The children of Israel found that out when Moses came down and found them worshipping a golden calf. But God’s motivation for giving the Law was not to punish – it was to tell us what is best for us. The Ten Commandments come from God’s love and concern for you.

Maria was 15 when she ran away from home. She thought her parent’s rules were too strict. After almost a year of use and abuse on the streets of a big city, she returned home, a modern prodigal daughter. Later, she told a youth group: “It took me nine long months on the street to finally realize that the rules which had seemed so rough and restrictive were actually sources of safety and security. My parents had established those rules not for their good, but for my own.” So it is with God. He has given us rules to live by, not for His good, but for our own. If we honor and live by those rules, we will find joy and love and fulfillment. All the while, we need to remember the Good News in which we live, that Jesus has earned our forgiveness and we have a bright future because of Him.