Psalm 18:11  
Thick darkness
  God cannot be looked upon by men. No man can see His face and live. Therefore, when God approaches the earth His presence is shrouded and in Old Testament times it was always by cloud.  The presence of God Almighty was hidden by a pillar of cloud during the day as Israel wandered in the wilderness, but it was fire that accompanied them by night. An impenetrable cloud covered the summit of Sinai when Moses was invited to go up and meet with the Lord - the people below heard a voice but they saw nothing. However, even this appearance of the Lord is multi-faceted as Moses later explained in Deuteronomy 4:11. “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.” This conjures up the picture of a blazing inferno, such as an oil well, where thick clouds of black smoke billow up over the furnace beneath. The prophet Isaiah had a vision of the Lord lofty and enthroned; that glimpse was enough to throw him to his knees as the temple was filled with smoke. 

Here in Psalm 18 the darkness is not smoke but the blackest of thunder clouds. In this dense fog God was hidden, in the secret place, His canopy. The Hebrew word is sukkah. It is the word that describes the booths from the Feast of Tabernacles, the booths that Simon Peter wanted to build on the Mount of Transfiguration. We are talking about temporary dwellings, constructed just for a season. Those ancient rituals still continue to this day as people live under canopies, outside their homes, during the week of festivities of Succoth. It’s amazing to think that their flimsy dwellings correspond to the dwelling of the Lord in the clouds over Sinai. We marvel at the song of a blackbird in spring, or the beauty of a woodland covered with bluebells or the magnificence of cherry blossom; in creation we see the intricate beauty and wonder of a God of infinite detail and glory and we love Him for it!  Let us not fail to also gasp with admiration and wonder at the dark storm clouds and the thunder and lightning, for God uses these to show us yet another aspect of His being and His majesty.  All creation reveals Him if we care to look.  The next time there is a powerful storm take yourself back to Sinai and be amazed!

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