...and Thunder

“The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’—Psalm 29:7-9

What’s with our fascination with thunderstorms? Perhaps it’s the unequaled rush that stirs up a mixture of excitement and fear, of knee-buckling awe and great delight. Little children jump into bed with mom and dad. Older ones watch from the front porch trying to put on bravado by joking about angels in heaven bowling. Grown ups wish they were at home and not at work so they can take it all it in. Even dogs catch the vibe, running to hide under furniture, or curling up in a corner, shaking.

Thunder and lightning. But when you think of it, it’s not really a thunderstorm but a lightning storm. Not a cute play on words, but really, quite significant. We may not see it all the time, but somewhere, the sudden increase of extreme temperature from a lightning flash is what's causing the atmosphere around it to rumble or even explode. Not just hot, but about five times hotter than the surface of the sun, and with enough energy to operate a 100-watt lightbulb for three months. And when it’s not in our particular storm, it’s flashing somewhere else in the world, all day long, about 40 times a second.

Psalm 29 is the soundtrack for a lightning storm. It also serves as a type and shadow of the white-hot holiness of God always preceding the voice and presence of God. And it is everywhere, all the time, always in tandem, and non-stop. Even in forests and deserts and mountains where there is no one to see or hear it.  Like the stars in the night sky, a warm breeze that comes from all directions, the faithful roll of the ocean tide, and the songbirds that always seem to know that dawn is their cue to begin praising another day that He has made, lightning storms are another never-ending gift from God reminding us that He is always right here with us, even in our storms, always speaking…even when we think He has gone silent on our questions and prayers.

And for others, His wooing through these wonders of creation are non-stop as well. An invitation. A thought-provoker. A declaration to consider. God has no problem with people who others may label as “tree-huggers” or who like to say “the outdoors is my church.” This is opportunity knocking. Just as the guy who answered Jesus about what he thought God’s greatest commandment was, instead of judging him for not getting it quite right or being deceived or hypocritical, He said, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.”

And as we encounter those on our path who may not yet “see” God talking in all that surrounds us, lightning and thunder can be opportunity knocking, too. An opening for a conversation starter with eternal implications, to throw out a “what do you think about this?” ... and let God take it from there.

“The untracked, unimaginable stretches of the created universe are a parable about the inexhaustible riches of [God's] glory. The physical eye is meant to say to the spiritual eye, 'Not this, but the Maker of this, is the Desire of your soul.'" — John Piper