Chronicles 16:31-33 ESV
31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. (ESV)
Its thunderstorm season in the Southland again. Giant clouds, clapping thunder, and jagged trails of lightning desperately trying to touch the ground. I love the power and movement of thunderstorms, they inspire and captivate. But they also bring a bit of perspective to this passage.
These descriptions of the earth’s declaration of God’s greatness is curious in that we tend to think of violent weather paterns and roaring ocean breakers as scary things, maybe even things we come closer to attributing to the result of sin on the earth. However, David seems to take great comfort in these natural occurrences that are bigger than he is and completely out of his control. This exposes a bedrock position of David’s faith as we see that he was confident only in the One who was stronger than everything, and left no confidence in chance or blind fortune or heaven forbid, luck. David believed that every famine, disease, plague, hardship, and sorrow was subject in every moment to the King of all things great and small. So if crops failed due to a lack of rain, despite the natural sorrow that we feel because of the lack, there can be an undergirding hope because mere misfortune or weather cycle never has the last word in any situation, sovereign God does.
Likewise, in our jobs, our families, our health, and our spirits we do not serve and worship a Being that is subject Himself to the crushing power of what we call “life”. We belong to the One who rules sovereignly over all things while simultaneously loving us more than we understand. Our hope and confidence come from that, not from a non-existent promise that their will never be storms. Our perspective ought to be, in the center of our problems, confidence that as overwhelming and powerful these things are they prove just how much more powerful God is.
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