Letters Written in Fire

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved thunderstorms.

And that’s a good thing too, ‘cause Florida in the summer could aptly be described as the “Lightning State” instead of the “Sunshine State”. It seems we’d get a good thunderstorm every afternoon during those hot summer months.

One time, my family and I were at a picnic when we got hit by a storm. Huddled in the large shelter, we waited out the rain and got to see a lightning strike first-hand. This skinny finger of pure white-hot energy zapped a tree a hundred feet away. There was no warning, just BAM!

Even so, an oncoming storm never produced dread in me. I’d rush outside to feel the palpable drop in temperature as the winds began to rise. The sky would then grow black and I’d hear the distant peals of thunder. Closer and closer they’d come. A rumble that soon heralded the arrival of raindrops. First a few scattered drips, and then big heavy ones. You could see a wall of rain advancing. At the last possible moment, I’d jump inside my house to watch from within. My mom had to keep reminding me to stay away from the windows, but it was hard to resist the call of the ringmaster.

What a show!

I ESPECIALLY loved to experience thunderstorms at night while safely tucked away in bed. The flash of lightning would pierce through the edges of my pull-down blinds. This would be followed by deep peals of thunders that seemed to shake the house and filled me with awe.

No fireworks extravaganza could compete with this amazing display (even veiled as it was behind the curtains).

I would take these moments to ask God questions.

“If the answer is yes, flash once. If the answer is no, don’t flash at all…” (I interpreted little flashes to mean “Maybe.”).

These were always glorious experiences for me. It was one thing to TELL an invisible and all-mighty God what you praying for; getting an answer (seemingly) was exciting.

Somebody up there hears me!

It was around this time that I began making the shift from seeing my faith as a religion to experiencing God in terms of a relationship. Although I no longer ask God to speak to me through flashes of light, I can hear His voice through the Bible, through prayer, through circumstances, through nature and through people.

I’ve come to learn that when we’re hungry to hear God’s voice, He will answer. But it will often be in such a soft and tender way that we’ll miss it if we don’t stop to listen.

Why is it that we so often ask for God to speak to us in letters of fire that race across the sky?

How has God spoken to you this week?

Joe

Job 37:1-24
“My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me. Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it rolls from his mouth. It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes in every direction. Then comes the roaring of the thunder— the tremendous voice of his majesty. He does not restrain it when he speaks. God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.

“He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power. The wild animals take cover and stay inside their dens. The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold. God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water. He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with his lightning. The clouds churn about at his direction. They do whatever he commands throughout the earth.

He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love. “Pay attention to this, Job. Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God! Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds? Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? When you are sweltering in your clothes and the south wind dies down and everything is still, he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror. Can you do that?

“So teach the rest of us what to say to God. We are too ignorant to make our own arguments. Should God be notified that I want to speak? Can people even speak when they are confused? We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds. So also, golden splendor comes from the mountain of God.

He is clothed in dazzling splendor. We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. No wonder people everywhere fear him. All who are wise show him reverence.”

1 Kings 19:1-18
When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied again, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

Then the LORD told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram. Then anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet. Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha! Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

NLTse