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When Lightning Strikes

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.                     Job 36:32 ESV

Having worked another long day outside with temperatures flirting with one hundred degrees, we were enjoying the little bit of rain that the breeze wafted our way as we sat on the front porch. Then that wonderful stillness was interrupted by the horrible crash of a thunderbolt that landed just a few yards away on the other side of the dirt road. We sat in shock for a moment and then we started laughing in relief as the geese over in the cow pasture honked in loud and angry protest.

brown and beige wooden barn surrounded with brown grasses under thunderclouds

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The terrible thing about lightning is that it wakes us up to just how vulnerable we are. Car accidents, break-ins, doctor’s reports and family crisis hit at times when we least expect. But the hope that our scripture today gives is that God is ultimately in control. He holds the power of the lightning in His hands and He is the one who commands where it will strike.

God knows not only when and where the lightning will strike but even when each sparrow falls. He has marked His calendar for how long our life on earth is to be. So we must decide if we will honk in angry protest when thunder crashes all around or we can rejoice in God’s mercy and grace. He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die in our place so we can praise the one who will keep us safe in every storm!

The Crazy Extravagant Love of God!

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He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” John 13:6 ESV

Though foot washing was a common everyday practice in the time when Jesus lived, it was the job of a servant to do that. So without one present the disciples came in and sat down at the banquet table with dirty smelly feet. Why should they be willing to take on the humbling responsibility they each thought to themselves? Luke’s gospel tells us that they were busy arguing about which of them was the most important. Then Jesus got up and walked out of the room. A silence ensued as they wondered where He had gone. Then He appeared in the doorway, with a wash basin in his hands and wearing a towel around his waist.

India and Nepal 115

I once went to India on a short term mission trip. We were visiting a village there and during a meeting they called us to sit at the front. Then the pastor’s daughter thanked us for coming and began to wash our feet. It was humbling to receive such an expression of their love.

That is how the disciples felt as Jesus began to wash their feet. We don’t know what was going through Peter’s mind at that moment but maybe embarrassment just suddenly overwhelmed him. Receiving such a crazy expression of love was more than he knew how to accept.  Jesus had taken the job that he had refused.

person plowing soil

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But the truth of the matter is that what Jesus did for Peter He has also done for all of us. He took on the job no one else wanted – He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross to wash us from our sins. What kind of crazy extravagant love is that? That is the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Plow up those Fields

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Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12 KJV

“Fallow comes from the old English word for plowing, and refers to the practice of leaving fields unplowed in rotation––when a field lies fallow, the soil regains nutrients that are sucked up by over-planting.”  Vocabulary.com

One temptation I face as I grow older is to abandon some of the fields in my life. There are some fields that have so long been unproductive that it scarcely seems worth the effort to continue to hope for any sort of fruitful harvest. But God has an entirely different idea. God says that today is the exact perfect time to stop moping around the house, get the plow out of the barn and break up my fallow ground.

Do you have some fallow fields in your life? There is nothing wrong with that but God has not created us to lie fallow forever. Maybe today your fallow time is coming to an end. Maybe it is time to hitch up the plow to the horse and get to work. There is still something that God has called for us to do. Do not be discouraged. Nothing will grow better crops than a field that has had time to rest for a while.  God has planned for and promised a harvest season ahead if only we plow up our fallow fields and then plant them today!

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