How Great Thou Art!
A severe thunderstorm rolled through southeast Kentucky a few nights ago about the time my wife and I were going to bed. Our dog, Sierra, is absolutely terrified of storms and it became quickly apparent I’d not be going to sleep soon as she paced back and forth on the bed. I decided to get back up and try to photograph the lightning. This is one of the images I captured.
Lightning is an amazing natural phenomenon. It can be both terrifying and beautiful. The biblical writers saw God as the source of lightning. In the Book of Job, chapter 37, Elihu asks Job, “Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?” (v. 15) In the very next chapter God asks Job “What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed…?” (v. 24) I have a feeling that Job didn’t have an answer for Elihu or God.
Today we have a better understanding of the cause or source of lightning. Science has taught us much. Still, as Christians we cannot help but see in lightning a manifestation of God’s enormous power. There is much in nature that reminds us that our God is an awesome God.
When it storms I often recall the words to the familiar hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” that say “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee: How great Thou art! How great Thou art!” Sometimes I even sing this song (which only gives Sierra another reason to get upset!). When confronted by God’s beauty and power in nature, how can you not sing?
–Chuck Summers