I flew into San Salvador, El Salvador a week ago. We started our descent from a bright blue sky, but quickly settled into a dense layer of clouds. As I peered out the window I saw only gray. I wondered when the runway might appear, and hoped the pilot’s instrumentation worked properly as San Salvador lies surrounded by volcanic peaks. No worries, we hit the tarmac just as the mist parted.

We hustled to our ride in the midst of a nice rain, normal for this time of year in El Salvador. A few days later, when reading through the book of Nahum, I happened on a verse where the prophet described the Lord using meteorological language:

His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Nahum spoke God’s warning in a prophecy regarding Nineveh, laying out the Lord’s anger against this enemy of Israel. Caught in a tornado, Nineveh stood condemned. But I take this metaphor a bit more literally. When I consider the all-powerful nature of God, then the clouds really are nothing more than the dust off his feet.

Of course, to an omnipotent God who holds the universe in his hands clouds become less than the dust of his feet, more like an idea of his passing. Regardless, my descent through a rich, thick blanket of rainclouds brought to mind the magnificence of our amazing God. He holds us in his hands and sustains us in our living, even as we pass through the dust of his feet.

Nahum 1:3

Photo by Ben Everett