THE VOICE THAT THUNDERS

There is a light that shines in this darkness. It doesn’t matter how dark it gets, this light overwhelms it. The darkness can’t put it out. If you open up a box of shadows in a room, the shadows are obliterated by light. If you light a candle in a dark room . . . one single candle . . . it’s glow will fill the room. The darkness can’t overcome it. It can’t comprehend it. It can’t extinguish it.

Evil is deceptive by nature. Hatred, pride, murder, darkness . . . they all seem bigger and scarier than anything else. But this is an illusion. Love is more powerful than fear. Hatred distorts and shrivels but Love overwhelms. Love is like a waterfall and hatred is like anything that opposes it and tries to swim up into it. Pride isolates and abuses; Humility breaks strongholds and establishes unity.

What does Humility look like? I can think of so many examples but this is the one I’ll use today. There’s a scripture that describes the “Voice” of God. It says,

"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. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalms 29

This is such a powerful image of what the voice of God looks like. But what would His voice look like if it were to take a human form? Well, we know what it looks like already, don’t we?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

John 1

So this incredibly powerful, thundering, majestic, cedar-breaking Voice—the Living Expression of God—grows skin. It becomes a man and walks the earth. And what does that look like?

"(He), being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Philippians 2

So the most powerful entity in all existence manifests its power by taking on human form and exemplifying . . . humility. A humility that changed the course of history and demonstrated the kind of love that transforms lives permanently.

In these trying times, we do not stand up to hate and bigotry by staying silent. And we don’t conquer them by embracing hatred and prejudice ourselves either. We defeat our enemy by standing up and forming a line. By intentionally raising our voices and demonstrating love. We are not “better than,” but we are equal. We don’t know everything and we are not above reproach, but we do recognize injustice and we do have the power within ourselves to expose and obliterate it, like a light in a dark room. We embrace humility, embrace compassion. Let love be the root of our actions and our words.

Use your voice to build one another up. To acknowledge one another’s bravery and value. Stand firm and make a wall to keep darkness at bay.

It’s my prayer that my voice—that our voices, joined together—the voice of love and compassion and humility—will thunder across the earth like His does. And that it will break deception like trees falling under the weight of a great and mighty storm.

J.