The Heavens are Declaring!

I don’t like thunder and lightning. I never have, but I like it less the older I get. It’s scary. It’s loud and powerful and makes me want to stay in bed. I remember hearing a story about a little girl who was out in a thunderstorm with her Grandmother. Every time the lightning would flash, she would smile a sweet smile and smooth out her dress. Her Grandmother asked her what she was doing? Her reply was “I’m trying to look pretty for God. He keeps taking my picture.”

When I see lightning, I am afraid. When she saw lightning, she saw it as God’s personal attention on her.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4

God declares his power and work in the world every single day. We see it in the sun that shines on us, in the stars that light up the velvety night sky, and yes, even in the thunder and lightning. I look at them and see the glory of God displayed unquestionably. Others look at the same starry sky and see nothing more than a happy accident.

It’s a glass half-full/half empty thing. God has prepared our hearts, giving us a conscience that knows right from wrong and a desire to know him, as evidenced by the presence of a religion in every major civilization. He then made nature itself testify of his goodness and power. We are left without excuse. We get to choose to believe or not.

And then, as if that all wasn’t enough, he came down lived among us. He was Emmanuel, the God who was with us, teaching us and living in relationship to us. He wrote down his word, so that we can consult it whenever we want to.

I am all about choice. We choose the life we live. We choose to believe God and take him at his word, or not. We choose to get to know him, living in an understanding of who he is, reflecting him to the world around us, or not. We can choose to live in fear of his nature and power, or, like the little girl smiling at the thunder, we can choose to understand that all that noise and power is a demonstration of his love for us.

The fact is that God loves you. How will that affect how you live today?