Craig Clouston

A Matter of Perspective

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8–9

Through a clear and cloudless sky, the jet banked hard left, preparing for final approach. Looking out the window, I saw the hand of God and heard His voice. There, below me, was a single, fluffy, white cloud. Centered on the cloud was a perfect, vibrantly colored rainbow—not an arch as we see from the ground, but a perfect circle. And in the center of it all was the shadow of his plane cast by the noonday sun.
In that moment God whispered, “This is My promise. There is no place that exists outside my love; no valley is below this circle; no mountain rises above it. There is no east; there is no west; there is only my love. This is My promise.”
There wasn’t time to snap a picture before the plane leveled out, but that didn’t matter; I will never forget the image. A sense of peace replaced my harried and stress-filled mind.

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Following the flood, God promised Noah to never again destroy the earth with water. His covenant was the first recorded rainbow. “I have set my bow in the cloud.” Never having witnessed one before, Noah must have been awestruck!
In the fourth chapter of Revelation, John describes how God remembers that promise: “A rainbow resembling an emerald, encircling the Throne of God,” not arching above it, but encircling the throne, all encompassing and never ending, just like God’s promises.
The image and the whisper through the window of that plane let me know that God was aware of my life and the problems I faced.
From God’s perspective, the things we deal with and witness each day are usually not what they appear to be; there is a purpose. God asks that we trust Him to work in our lives for that purpose.

Prayer

“Lord, I don’t look at things the way You do. Help me to see what You see as I look at the issues of my life. Help me to trust in Your promise. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”