Lightning's Path

Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?  Job 38:35 (NLT)

A couple days ago I got up early, and on the way to the coffee pot, I was distracted by a bright flashing light outside.  Curiosity sent me to the window near our front door.  Void of any sound, a spectacular display of light danced before my eyes.  The sky was clear except for a patch of clouds in the distance, and as if on musical cue, lightning darted across the horizon in absolute silence, illuminating the black sky. 

I wanted to wake everyone in my house to come witness this beautiful sight, yet I could not draw myself away from the window.   For the next ten minutes, I stood there watching, amazed.

Marveling. 

Wondering. 

Without the usual thunder claps that make me jump out of my skin, this early morning lightning show was breathtaking to say the least. 

Not too long ago, lightning struck my parents’ house.  I happened to be on the phone with my mom when it happened, and I will never forget the panic that came over me as I listened to her scream.  Later, she would describe a force so powerful –one that shook her to her core.

The firemen told us that the lightning struck the house and traveled down the chimney on a dangerous course, looking for something or someone to ground it.  My mom stood within ten feet of its path.  Almost two months later, my parents are still replacing stuff that was damaged by one bolt of lightning.Thankfully, it was only stuff. 

As I stood with my nose pressed up against the window, unable to pull my eyes away from this brilliant show of lights, I embraced a new perspective.  In that moment, I was overwhelmed by how incredibly big my Creator is, and I realized that there is so much about Him that I have yet to discover.  And with that realization came great peace.

Peace in knowing my God cannot do wrong.  

Peace in saying some things just don’t make sense.   

Peace in accepting that I will never know everything there is to know about Him while I am still on this Earth.

Peace in anticipating the day that I will see clearly. 

1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT)

Through my current lenses, I do not see God with perfect clarity, and I don't see myself clearly either.  But God knows me better than I know myself.  When He looks at me, He sees His workmanship.  The same God who is responsible for the mysterious path that lightning takes created and crafted me in His image.  He directs my path as well.  Psalm 139 says that "He goes before me and follows me" and that "His eyes see all my days before a single one of them begins." 

Just as there is so much more to learn about my Creator, there is also much to learn about who God created me to be.  When I start to think, God can’t really use me, or that will never change, or this is just too big, His Truth reminds me, that He is able, “through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

Admitting that there is so much I don’t get brings me such relief.  I don’t ever want to find myself at a place in this life where I think I’ve got it all figured out.  When I am overwhelmed by my lack of understanding, I find freedom in saying, I don’t know.  I don’t understand. Because my life is hidden with Christ Who knows, Who understands, and Who loves me more than I could ever fathom.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 4:19 (NLT)