Thunder - Rumblings in the Night

Clouds bumping together, friction in the air, angels bowling in heaven, the voice of God, God laughing.  There are many analogies for thunder.  The analogy I like best is the one that suggests thunder is the voice of God speaking to His children.

Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep because you were not able to see your way out of your storm?  Everything you are experiencing in your storm seems larger than life in the midnight hour.  I suppose it is because there is really nothing you can do about your situation at that hour.

During the night, most people and things are usually shut down.  If you are struggling with your marriage, your spouse is probably asleep.  If you are wondering how you will pay your electric bill, the power company is closed.  If you are having problems on your job, you probably do not have the number for your boss - who you surely would not call at that hour anyhow.

In the midnight hour of your storm, you hear every taunt from the enemy a lot better than you do during the day.  Perhaps this is why God brings the thunder.  The thunder rumbles over you and through you.  Listen.  Do you hear what it is telling you?

I remember my first encounter with the thunder.  I was 30 years old.  I was in an abusive marriage and had four small children (4 months, 2, 5, and 7 years of age at the time).  I was sound asleep when something awakened me at 3:00 in the morning.  A voice in my head said, "Get up and lock the bedroom door." 

Rewind:  Approximately one week before, I had been dreaming that I was in bed and a spider was making its way down its web from the ceiling right above my head.  In my dream, my room was dark, but I could still see the spider.  In reality, I woke up and rolled over to go back to sleep.  A voice in my head said, "Get up and turn on the bedroom light."  I do not know why I listened, but I am glad I did. 

I turned on the light and looked around my bedroom.  Right above where I had been sleeping was a spider just beginning its descent from my ceiling.  I stood there frozen for a moment.  I then killed the spider, scanned the room, turned off the light, and got back into the bed.

As I lay there looking at the clock which read 3:03, I wondered at what had just occurred.  Not long after, I fell asleep again.  That was my training day.

As I was saying, a voice in my head said, "Get up and lock the bedroom door."  I immediately did so.  I had fallen asleep with the light on, so it was easy to find the chain.  No sooner than I had the chain in place did my husband at the time try to bust open the door.  The force was so great that the chain vibrated.  He said, "I hate you!  You ruined my life.  I wish I could kill you!"

My first encounter with 'the voice' came to mind.  I understood at that moment what had happened the prior week.  With a peace I had not felt in a long time, I turned off the light and went back to bed with a subtle smile on my lips.  "I have you," is what God was telling me. 

The rumbling thunder of God's voice inside my spirit gave me a feeling of security.  Ever since then, if I awaken in the 3:00 hour of the morning, I just turn onto my back and ask, "Yes, God?"  Then I listen. 

The thunder can seem pretty scary during a storm.  It makes the storm seem so much worse than it really is - if you do not know its source. 

The next time you are in a storm, allow the thunder to be your friend.  Let it be the friend that sticks closer to you than a (sleeping) brother. 

When you awaken in the midnight hour and everyone else is asleep, listen for the thunder.  It is very likely that the thunder will help to lead you out of your storm.