It wasn’t long before the flashes of
lightning and static became more frequent, the thunder rumbled mere seconds
after each flash. It was almost here. I decided to hunker down in the hallway. I
felt a little foolish. I’m a grown woman. I like to think I’m fairly brave, but
there I sat, knees to my chest, fingers in my ears.
The flash came as a blinding, white,
light and in the same instant, silence. My radio went dead, the lights went out
and the silence was deafening—for a millisecond.
CRASH!
An intense angry blast jolted the
entire house. The windows rattled and the house vibrated as
thunder growled across the sky.
I thought of only one thing.
What came to my mind in the split
second the radio went dead and the house shook was the caricature of a
lightning bolt hitting a stick figure from heaven—God striking someone down for
disobeying Him. As the windows rattled, my mind raced to the way that our
country, our world has rejected God. How angry He must be.
The bible speaks of the anger and wrath
of God.
But we focus on the kinder, gentler
scriptures that speak of His grace and mercy. It seems we sugarcoat our
testimony with the sweetness of his lovingkindness. “God loves you, God is
gracious, God is kind and merciful”
All of those things are true.
That night, as the floor trembled
and darkness enveloped me, I felt the power of that bolt of lightning. I felt a
tiny minutia of power in comparison to the power of our God. It reminded me
that some day, a day that is closer with every moment that passes, He will
return and righteously judge us all. When that day comes, will those who have rejected
his love and mercy and grace say to us, who knew of the wrath to come, “Why
didn’t you tell me about His wrath?”
Could it be that while some are drawn
to him by His love, some will require the fear of God to recognize their need
of a Savior?
Should we be like the man on the
street corner holding a sign that says: God’s
wrath is coming! No. I don’t think that’s the answer. But perhaps we could season
our witness with more of the full truth of His character—sharing the consequences
of rejecting God as well as sharing the benefits of accepting His grace and
forgiveness. Perhaps in the dark of night, when the radio goes dead and the
earth is silent, that knowledge will seal in someone’s heart the need for a
Savior and will cause some who are lost to be found.
Revelation
6:15-16
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones
and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free,
hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to
the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who
is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."
But wait... 2 Peter 3:9 says, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But wait... 2 Peter 3:9 says, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
