Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
There I am. I'm laying in bed, sleeping. All of a sudden—crack! It’s two in the morning, and there’s lightning and thunder. This is very real for us in this area of the country. Our Verse of the Day speaks to this.
It comes from Job chapter 37, verse 5. "God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of His power."
Suffering and Sovereignty
The theme of Job is suffering and sovereignty. Elihu is describing a brewing storm, and in verse 2 he says, "Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that goes from His mouth." I live in Tennessee now. I grew up in the Midwest. I know what thunder is. I know what storms are. I know what thunderstorms are. I've seen a tornado. They're powerful. They are scary. They are real. They can come up on you suddenly. Here in this passage, God uses these types of weather to show us His greatness and His power.
Do you know why else? It's because God loves to communicate, and He uses all kinds of forms of the weather to communicate. He says, in verse 3, "Under the whole heaven, He lets it loose"—thunder, that is—"and His lightning travels to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars. He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightning when His voice is heard."
God's Power Is Active
In Job chapter 37, verse 5, God's power is on display in two mighty ways. Number one, God's power is active. It's powerful, incomprehensible, and all-encompassing. It says it right there: "God's voice is glorious in the thunder." Thunder is not merely a weatherman's report. You look at the radar, you see the red, you see the orange, you see the green, and you know what's going on. God is communicating to us. He is in control of the weather. Every flash of lightning, every sound of thunder comes from Almighty God. It’s amazing.
He's communicating. It demonstrates again His active, all-encompassing control in the world that you and I live in. Who is the one behind the storm controlling it all? God Himself.
His Power Creates Awe
His power is not only active, but secondly, His power really creates awe. It produces awe, it provokes, it evokes. You sit there and you hear the thunder. You feel the ground move under your feet from sounds in the sky. This is an amazing, powerful God. The Bible says again in our Verse of the Day, "We can't even imagine the greatness of His power." Spanning the skies, flashing light, thunder.
You see the powerful, awesome, intimidating storms should create awe and admiration because the God who's doing that, if we know Him, He's the God who's going to bring us ultimately safely into heaven. You're eternally secure. You can hear the thunder, you can see the lightning and go, I know that God, and that God knows me personally and is going to get me to heaven someday.
Application
Here's a couple of thoughts of application. Number one, stand in awe of God. Try to not complain or question God, but stand in awe of who He is. Number two, let the storms, let the thunder drive you to trust God, not to worry. He knows who you are, and if you know Him, you know that He can be trusted.
I love the verse in Psalm chapter 46. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way," if you will, or "though the thunder"—you hear it—"and the lightning flashes, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea." You have a God, and so do I, who's an ever-present refuge and strength.
Psalm chapter 145, verse 3 says, "His greatness is unsearchable." As you think about this, let's stand in awe of God and worship the God who is Lord over all the weather. Let's worship this great and awesome God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
