Welcome back to our current series, blogging through the 40 days of Lent.
Day 12
Our Scripture passage for today is Psalm 114 ...
1 When Israel came out of Egypt— the house of Jacob from a people who spoke a foreign language— 2 Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills, like lambs. 5 Why was it, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you turned back? 6 Mountains, that you skipped like rams? Hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
As I'm sitting writing this, there's thunder rumbling in the sky overhead. My rescue pup keeps looking up at the ceiling, wondering how he can escape the giant he thinks is hammering on our roof. And my husband keeps checking out the window to see if he needs to let some water out the pool as the rain lashes down. Our Highveld thunderstorms can be quite a display of the power and majesty of Creation!!
But even the strongest hurricane and the most explosive volcano are no match for the power of God. Today’s psalm recounts the earth’s response to God’s mighty act of deliverance, when He led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage.
At His awesome command, the sea split in two, and the mountains leapt like animals to make space for the waves. God takes salvation seriously, and when He desires to deliver His people from sin and evil, all of creation trembles and makes way.
And yet, even with all of this strength at His command, in His love and mercy God uses His power to redeem, and not to destroy.
During Lent, we look toward Good Friday and Easter Sunday, two days in history that were marked by dramatic events in nature. When Jesus Christ was crucified, the sun hid its countenance, and the earth shook so violently that graves broke open! And when He rose from the dead, another earthquake accompanied the arrival of the angel of the Lord who came to open the tomb!
No power on earth exceeds the power of God - and no power on earth can stop His love for you, and His desire to see every person on earth come to salvation.
"Almighty God, we tremble at Your strength and thank You that You wield it for our salvation." (Grace Claus)
Photo credit: Getty Images