Have you been on a big lake when a storm rolls in? Dark clouds gather in the distance, and the distance creeps closer and closer. The air is still in a threatening way. The time lapse between lightning you see and thunder you hear is a gauge for how much time you have to get off the water. Don’t take any chances. One more fish just isn’t worth it, is it?

“The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic” (Psalm 29:3,4). 

In 2011 a tornado ripped through our property. Twenty acres of red oaks and jack pines were uprooted and twisted into a tangled mess and dropped all around our house. Our woods were gone, but our house was spared. It really was. We had the land clear-cut because it was such a mess. For quite a while we looked out the windows at bare soil. But now the trees are coming back.

“The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. . . . The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare” (Psalm 29:7-9).

When the next storm rolls in, listen for the voice of the Lord. In this Psalm, King David says watch from someplace sturdy, like God’s temple. Everyone with you will have the same reaction: “Glory!” (verse 9).