A typical summertime afternoon thunderstorm is rolling through my Middle Tennessee community as I write these words (Thursday June 28, 2019). Thunderstorms are awesome things to behold – wind, rain, lightning, and of course, thunder! More on that in a moment. Thunderstorms make me think of God – not only because of the tremendous power displayed, but because of Bible statements that relate God with thunder and wind! For example King David said in Psalm 18:10 – "And He [God] rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind." Then in verse 13 the warrior / poet continued, "The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire." In Psalm 104 an inspired writer declared, "He [the Lord] lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind." So it is, the wind and thunder and power of a summertime thunderstorm always make me think of God. And when the high-speed wind of a severe and fast-moving thunderstorm blows through at 60 or 70 mph, I sometimes wonder where God is going in such a hurry! Having said all that, 20 minutes after I wrote the first sentence of this little piece, the storm has let up and moved off to the northeast. Yet, I can still hear thunder in the distance! Experts tell us thunder can be heard from a maximum distance of 10 miles under good atmospheric conditions. They further say that the grumbles and rumbles we hear is the sound of thunder reaching us at different times from the sound produced along its leangth. So, the thunder you hear sounding off may be nearby or may be miles away!
Now consider these words from 1 Thessalonains 1:7-8 After commending "the church of the Thessalonians" (1:1) for their eager and wholehearted reception of the gospel in spite of persecution, the apostle Paul wrote – "so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything." The word for "sounded forth" in this passage in the Greek New Testament is "echomai." Earl Edwards, long time Bible professor at Freed-Hardeman University, wrote that " ‘sound forth’ depicts something like thunder or a trumpet blast that causes reverberation or echoing" (Truth For Today Commentary on 2 Thessalonians, p 25). The church of Christ at 1st century Thessalonica was a noisy church! With the gospel that is! They were not "silent saints" and they were not stingy with the greatest story ever told. They were out, loud, and proud with the gospel. Paul said they became examples to a whole region in the Roman Empire. "The word of the Lord sounded forth" from them like thunder rolling and reverberating. There’s a lot we don’t know about them – the size of their weekly "attendance" and contribution or annual budget, how many they baptized each year, who the preacher and elders were. What we know is that their faith toward God thundered out – near and far. They were committed to telling people the message of the gospel. Now, when was the last time you sounded forth the word of the Lord? Does your faith toward God ever go out, that is outside the church building? Just askin’.
– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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