Sunday, June 19, 2011

Do Not Fear

I was awakened by an extraordinarily loud, long and violent thunderstorm in the wee hours of this morning.   In that drowsy state of half-wakefulness, snippets of Psalms and hymns passed through my head.  You know, the hymn about the mighty voice of God which breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  And the Psalms which speak of Him hurling his arrows and thundering from the heavens.



These thoughts flitted through my mind during a particularly fierce roll of thunder, and I felt a sense that standing in the presence of this God, whose voice alone invokes such power, would be utterly terrifying.  Then...I promptly fell back to sleep.

This morning, upon waking, I questioned whether I take God too lightly.  How else could I experience such a majestic and fearful display, yet dismiss it so easily?  But you know what I concluded?  This is an appropriate response for a Christian!

Our God IS awesomely terrifying in His power.  And yes...we are weak and sinful, and we ought to feel the import of that somewhere along the way.  But only briefly.  It is good, right and beneficial that our primary and most lasting response, even to His power, should be one of confidence and rest!  We ought to be certain enough of His goodness to us in Jesus Christ to believe wholeheartedly that all that wrath and power were already absorbed by The Son on the cross when He gave Himself up for us.

Because I am in Christ, I can be faced with and awed by that fearful combination of God's holiness and His absolute power, and yet be at complete peace about the prospect of facing Him.  

Thanks be to God for this Unspeakable Gift.

2 comments:

Susan Mc. said...

So true. That storm hit us around 7:00 ish ...and my husband and #2 son were on a roof working! Yikes! God's power is comforting!

Randy S. said...

Well said, Lori!