Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Treasury Of Hail

I was thinking this morning about hail stones and how the process of their formation mirrors our thought process when we are readying ourselves for war.

"Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth? "Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, And the surface of the deep is frozen." - Job 38:22-30 NKJV

Our thoughts harden suspended and kept aloft in our minds. They are frozen nuggets that gather more weight as they swirl and swirl. Snow is gentle and beautiful but hail is ferocious. Hail is often accompanied by lightning and thunder.

God used hail against Egypt.

"And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation... Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail... And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD'S... And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth." - Exodus 9:23-24, 26, 29, 33 KJV

If you hold people captive the hail is going to come but if you let God's people go the hail that has taken time to form will cease in an instant.

In the garden there was only mist that formed dew. There was not even the violence of rain there. Water mingled and gently formed droplets of dew and nourished this garden.

"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:" - Deuteronomy 32:2 KJV

This is grace thinking. This is the thinking of one who has had the need for vengeance satisfied already.

Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sin of the person our thoughts swirl about. As that nugget hardens in our mind God is not angry the way we sometimes are.

"The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe." - Revelation 16:19-21 ESV

God's treasury of hail is still swirling. How long does it take to form hail stones that are a hundred pounds? How fierce must those winds be to keep them aloft before they fall?

God is angry about evil but not about sin. The hail will fall on evil but God has already expended His wrath on what we and every other human being has done in the way of transgression and missing the mark of what is right and good. The hail that fell on Egypt did not fall in the land of Goshen.

"Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." - 1 Peter 2:24-25 NKJV

God's thoughts are gentle towards those who have trusted in His Son. Sin doesn't add up and gain weight in God's mind. Sin is paid for.

I want to spread my arms to the Lord and think about the cross when the fierce winds begin to howl in my mind. The debt has been paid. Jesus is in my boat and the storm is gone.

--

No comments:

Post a Comment