The sun is always shining

We tend to forget, sometimes, that, even though it’s cloudy overhead, the sun is still in the sky and it’s shining as brightly as ever.

We are tempted to let the clouds interfere with our outlook. Of course, when they are storm clouds we want to take note and make preparations for the possible deluge, lightening and thunder. It’s normal to be aware.

Life can be like this. We can come under pressure from the issues of life and allow those clouds of despair to block out the fact that God is still there, He is still shining upon us and He still cares for us.

The reality is that that the pressures of life are intrusive. They present as dark clouds and threaten like a storm. They can become so dense that we can no longer see beyond into the clear day of God’s paths.

David speaks of these times, even giving his solution to the question of darkness.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

David knew the walk of death, when it seemed that the despair of his potential demise was all around him, in the darkness of the clouds of apparent defeat, when there looks to be to be no way clear.

But it’s wonderful how, being a shepherd for so many years as a youth, David remembers the tap tapping of the shepherd’s rod and comforting staff that told the sheep the direction in which they were to follow.

The shepherd knew the way through the valley. He understood that it was a temporary darkness and that the light was at the other end of the vale, always shining, always present. Maybe he even knew the sound of a brook in the ravine that told him there was a way through.

God is always with us, as our Shepherd, our Guide, through every dark day, through every storm, through the valley of the shadow of death itself, if we will only trust Him and listen for His presence, be familiar with His voice, His rod, His staff through the promptings that can come into our spirit.

He is like that bright shining sun that is in the heavens above the clouds always giving heat and light to the earth.

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

Malachi 4:2

You see, Jesus is always there, always here, always present in our lives. He said He would never leave us nor abandon us (Heb.13:5). He is the Good Shepherd who knows us by name, who is well able to take us through any dark storm into safety, and we can know His voice (John 10:14).

Weather happens. Storms come. Clouds are real. Life is a challenge at times. What we always know, as believers, is that God is also ever ready to be a help in time of need (Heb.4:16).

So we may boldly say:
“The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.

Hebrews 13:6a

God is ever-present. He is always there, even when the pressures of life surround us. His countenance will shine upon us every day.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.

Revelation 1:12-18