Thunder and Lightening.

Every afternoon for the past three weeks, dark clouds roll in and almost always produce some kind of storm. Being from Southern California, both Brandon and I absolutely love this. Where we are from, we would be lucky to see a good storm every few years, and nothing like the ones we’ve seen here. Just two nights ago was one of the most exciting and slightly terrifying displays we have seen yet.
Most of the time, we set up our chairs right on the roof, and watch. Sometimes the rain forces us down below-other times we just sit in the rain and watch. This particular late afternoon was brewing up something spectacular. We stood in the middle of the roof, under a small lip, watching the mighty display of God’s creation.

And I couldn’t help but think of how huge, majestic, and powerful God is. I thought of Revelations 4, where it talks about the throne room of God. (which is an amazing thing to read and imagine!) Part of it says, “And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper ad carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne….from the throne came flashes of lightening, rumblings, and peals of thunder.”

I can’t really explain how that visual makes me feel. During this storm, at one time I actually saw lightening strike about two blocks away and the thunder that followed was so loud, and shook my entire being so forcefully, that I actually teared up. All I could do was whisper adoration and humble praise to the Lord. And I imagine that standing in heaven before a God like that, in a setting like the one described straight from His Word, will leave us on our faces completely speechless.  How incredible that we will one day stand before the throne of the Lord. And what is even more amazing is that He desires a relationship with us. He created us to bring him pleasure, honor, and glory. Really? Teeny tiny, little us?

I was doing a Bible study the other morning and one part had me researching the creation story. And along with that scripture reading in Genesis, it took me to, wouldn’t you guess it, Revelation 4. Verse 11 reads, ” Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”  and the authors words struck me, “God deliberately created us to bring Him joy and pleasure”.

So of course the next question I had to ask myself was, “what am I doing to bring God pleasure? To bring Him glory?” and it made me very aware of my days. Do I bring really bring Him glory and joy every day? Some days? What about the days I’m cranky, have an attitude, am angry or impatient. What about how I treat others, or how I talk and interact with them. Let me just say, those verses were good for me to hear and reflect on. If my only purpose here on earth is to bring Him glory, then that needs to always be at the forefront of my mind. And since it’s a broad purpose, “bring God glory” than to me that implies it can be done anytime, anywhere. At whatever location I am at for the day, doing whatever job I may be doing, interacting with family, friends or strangers…am I glorifying the Lord?

Hmmm. It sure got me thinking. And all from a little -or a lot rather-thunder and lightening.