When God Lights Up The Sky

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
    let the many coastlands be glad!
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
     righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
His lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.

~Psalm 97:1-5~

I was seated with my elbows perched on the back of the couch, my head propped up with my hands, my knees planted in the cushion, and my eyes in awe of the scene out the window. The rain fell like a waterfall, soaking the land, rendering my efforts that morning to water our garden quite unnecessary. Still, the dry summer grass greedily drank up every drop of water. God knows how to take care of His creations large and small. I love seeing God take care of the earth. I love the sound of the rain beating on ground. I even love the faint flashes of lightning in the distance and the soft rumbling of thunder in the sky. I smiled to myself. It's all so very beautiful. Then all of a sudden light was all that I saw. I saw the brightest white light I had ever seen followed by a flare of orange. My ears heard a chorus of human exclamation and the loudest trepidation of thunder I had ever heard. After a few brief seconds of complete light all was dark. The lightning had damaged our power lines. The next few moments were taken up with a muddle of hurried conversation. Amazement, surprise, fear, excitement, and curiosity were all present emotions, though amazement was the most common. Witnesses of the lightning strike shared their stories then shared them again and again. Bark was ripped from the top of the tree and sparks had been seen coming from the power pole in the back yard. I gathered that lightning had hit the tree right next to our house. The electricity then traveled down the power lines that were resting in the trees branches and damaged our transformer, temporarily knocking out the power in our home. It was a little scary, thinking I had been so close to something so powerful. Yet, there was also something exciting and beautiful about it.

The Bible clearly teaches that God is in control of the natural forces. He is sovereign over the lightning. He tells it where to go and where not to go. When I witnessed first-hand the power of a storm, the power of God was magnified in my mind. I cannot fathom a person so powerful that He could control such a powerful force. It is a fearful and wonderful concept. As Psalms 97 says, the earth trembles and rejoices. We tremble because God's wrath is terrifying. We rejoice because God's grace is sufficient for us. How dare I ever cease to, "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling." (Psalm 2:11)How can I possibly fear any momentary affliction? (2 Corinthians 4:17)


This morning the storm is just a distant memory. The tree's scars and the greener grass the only reminder. I watched out the window as birds ate birdseed and a deer munched on the grass. They looked so content, but I wondered where they had taken shelter last night during the storm. It occurred to me then that they sheltered in the hand of their Maker where they always sheltered. 

"And he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?'"

~Luke 12:22-26~

Let us not become fearful, anxious, and ungrateful. Yet rather let us fearfully rejoice in grateful awe and trembling of the one who lights up the sky and lights up our lives.