Reflections by the Pond
June 25, 2003

The Power and the Might

Last night Nebraska got the storms that have been headed our way. And just a few minutes ago the sky was alive with electricity. Like the inhabitants of a fragile, inadequate rowboat caught in the mountainous concussions of an angry sea, we watched as the booming ferocity of an electrical storm passed over. Before it hit, we went through the standard drill--unplugging televisions, computers, and phone lines--then stood ready to address any water seeping in where it shouldn't.

Even though our spring has been relatively wet, we have been dry of late. We needed the rain. The ground has been hard, already throwing up dust. The grass has stopped growing, and the few crops we have in this year have been thirsty for their share of moisture.

So we welcomed the approaching flashes of light and guttural rumblings coming from out of the West, hoping that they wouldn't--as they had earlier--pass us by. The storm had a slow beginning, and we wondered if we would once again be cheated. But soon the rain was pelting down, running in sheets off the roof of the house.

And like the grand finale of an Independence Day fireworks performance, the sky was alive with nonstop concussions and streams and explosions of white brilliance. The air was supercharged with the destructive current of the heavens, turned white and silver even in daylight, illuminated by its brilliance. One after the other, overlapping and stacked upon each other like nervous ferrets escaping a cage, the explosions beat against the air, beat against the house, beat against our fragile sense of safety within its walls.

Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you."
2 Chronicles 20:5-6 niv

One is never so small as when confronted by the power of heaven. A churning sky exploding with superheated bolts of lightning is sufficient to reduce the largest ego to insignificance. No mere human can stand against these forces. Yet, for the believer, this is not a moment to be feared, but a moment of praise and awe for a God who rises so high above His people. He is magnificence and might; He is unlimited power and majesty, and no one can stand against Him.

And, at the same time, the believer takes comfort in the knowledge that this incredible, majestic God is also his loving, merciful Father, in whom he has been granted security and peace.

Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.
Psalm 20:6-7 nasbu