I was working from home when a thunderstorm moved in from the west.
Thunder rumbled low and ominous against the backdrop of the noonday sun. As I pondered the storm’s timeline and path, I realized the birds had gone home to tuck themselves in before the storm. Ten minutes earlier, my yard was chock-full of cardinals, sparrows, finches, and woodpeckers, scolding, squawking, and vying for a position on the feeder’s perches. An eerie quiet replaced their chatter, and I fought a sudden urge to abandon the sunroom for the safety of the main house.
I was both fascinated and in dread of the approaching storm, but curiosity won out, and I stayed in the sunroom keeping watch to the west. The glow of distant lightning erupted into brilliant streaks of pure energy as the storm neared. The thunder was the kind that rumbled through my bones and made the windows vibrate long and hard. God was speaking.
That first clap of thunder took me back to my childhood when storms terrified me. To my child’s mind, they inevitably occurred at night when long shadows already lurked in the corners of my bedroom. I must have been terror-stricken during one storm because my mother sat on the edge of my bed, stroked my hair, and reminded me thunder was the voice of God.
Somewhere in my transition to adulthood, I lost the childhood wonder that I could hear God’s voice, and the thunder became just thunder again. But like Job, on that day I remembered how big God is. I remembered the thundering sound of His voice, and that His ways are past finding out. I remembered He is the Creator, and I am the created.
Sometimes, we need to let go of our “adult” understanding of God and see Him through the eyes of a child. When we do, we can take His Word seriously, believe it, and let it change us. We can embrace a God who is beyond our understanding.
When we take our place as the created—formed by an all-knowing, all-powerful Creator—we will find ourselves upheld, protected, and surrounded by a God who defies human understanding and reason.
Look to God as your safe place.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Dory Oda is a freelance writer, recently retired after enjoying two disparate careers. Her experiences as a classroom teacher and later as a mortgage banker, provide a varied and colorful backdrop for her writing. She lives in Indiana with her husband, Mike, and their cat, Molly Mae. Dory’s works include three devotional compilations on topics of Bible characters (Really, God?), nature (From My Backyard), and devotionals for bedtime (Night Song), as well as various works of poetry, short stories, and essays.