Lately, the afternoons have regularly provided a dousing of rain and some noisy rumbling from above. Thunder in the distance is always a pleasant sound, but when it gets really close it can be a frightening thing. Of course, the thunder is not the real scary part of the storm. This afternoon as I was about to put my foot on the first step to the porch, there was a flash and a loud simultaneous crackling noise in the heavens above which caused me to go from the bottom step to the porch almost as quick. Being too close to the thunder and lightning is indeed a frightening thing!
The Hebrews were no strangers to the lightning and thunder as they moved from Egypt to the Promised Land. When Moses went up on Mt. Sinai for that barefooted, hair-raising encounter with the Almighty, the Word tells us the mountain was overwhelmed with such thunder and lightning that the people down at the foot of the mountain trembled in fear. Already they had been warned not to set foot on the holy mountain and surely at the sight of what was above, they needed no further warning to stay put.
It sometimes seems that those folks who talk about God using such casual terms as "buddy" or "the man upstairs," have lost a sense a healthy sense of awe and reverence. To stand in the presence of the Almighty does have its comforting side, but it is also a frightening thing to stand where the Holy One is making Himself known to us. It is not that we should think being "struck dead" is a possibility, but the more we are in His presence, the more it is that the status quo of our life will be changed. Such is always a frightening possibility!
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