Mist in Scripture almost always means the same thing: something real that will not last. It is used for human life, for shallow devotion, and once for a blindness that lifted. It is never mystical, and it is never a symbol of God’s presence — that is cloud, which is a different image doing different work. The verse everybody half-remembers James, writing to people making confident business plans: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is…

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