BOOM! RATTLE! SHAKE!

My heart begins to quake.

 

ZIG-ZAG GOES THE LIGHT!

My feel curl in tight from fright.

 

WHOOSH! SHRIEK! RUSTLE!

My ears pierce with winds whistle.

 

Then SUDDENLY in POWER!

Heavens break open in showers.

 

PLINK! PLOP! SHHHHH…

My breath exhales

peace settles as His voice commands

 

STORM . . . BE STILL.

 

~Marcie Bridges

©24 June 2019

 

In 1986 we moved to a new town and house in Southern California.

 

Furniture was still sparse (partly because all we owned had been ruined in a flood up North earlier in the year and partly because we hadn’t moved everything else from the old house yet. My sister and I still shared a room so our bunkbed was not together yet.

 

 

Michelle’s friend, Heather, had come to visit for the week and we decided the three of us would sleep out in the soon-to-be dining room. I had chosen to sleep in the middle of the room. Above me hung a large, white chandelier.

 

At approximately 3 AM our little white Maltese dog, Fluffy, began to run around., barking his head off. We all tried to quiet him down but he seemed scared.

 

Suddenly, I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride. The floor shook. Violently. The walls looked like paper rippling in the wind. I buried my head under my pillow and prayed God would not let that chandelier fall on me as it swayed back and forth.

 

 

It lasted only a few minutes but as with any natural disaster or accident, it felt like an eternity before the rumbling stopped and the house settled down again. The news reported it to be a magnitude 6.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, killing 12 people, injuring many others and leaving behind much destruction. The aftershocks were about a 3.0 for a few days.

 

Natural disasters both scare me and put me in complete awe. The fear I felt that night has never left me. I’m fascinated by weather and the skies. I can close my eyes and see, hear, and feel that earthquake all over again.

I’m more fascinated with their Creator. The God of this universe. He has a mighty voice. And when it thunders, creation thunders and echoes with Him. That’s what this psalm is all about.

 

And we would do well to listen when he makes His presence known so mightily!

 

His voice brought creation into existence. His voice needs no introduction. We hear it and respond.

 

Just as last week we learned God’s voice is soft and gentle, just a whisper. This week we would do well to also realize God’s voice is like the sound of many waters and it can thunder so loud, the earth quakes.

 

Our response? To give Him all the glory. We do not need to fear His voice, like the fear I had during that earthquake, because God is our shelter and our refuge. His booming voice is a signal to His (and our) enemies that He is alive and well and will fight for us. But for us? “In the thunder, and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear His glory. Let our thoughts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable thoughts of God, in the holy adorning of Whom, the power of godliness so much consists. O Lord our God, thou art very great!” (Matthew Henry)*

 

From My Heart to Yours,

Marcie

 

 

*Psalm 29: Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible. Loc. 16679. Kindle Edition.

All pictures (except for me with my doggy) are courtesy of Unsplash.com