Does God Love Us? part 2

¹⁰ He parted the heavens and came down;
       dark clouds were under his feet.  ¹¹ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
       he soared ^[d] on the wings of the wind.
 ¹² He made darkness his canopy around him—
       the dark ^[e] rain clouds of the sky.
 ¹³ Out of the brightness of his presence
       bolts of lightning blazed forth.
 ¹⁴ The LORD thundered from heaven;
       the voice of the Most High resounded.
 ¹⁵ He shot arrows and scattered the enemies ,
       bolts of lightning and routed them.
 ¹⁶ The valleys of the sea were exposed
       and the foundations of the earth laid bare
       at the rebuke of the LORD,
       at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

Again, we are looking at 2 Samuel 22 - the whole chapter.  Yesterday we were introduced to the interruption in God's day (speaking awfully loosely here, you know) with David's lamentations of attack.  We saw that it didn't matter what God was doing - in my imagination, I hear God thunder, "Who DARES attack my servant David?!?"

In verse 10 we see God's response - it's action!  He's like Batman, who springs into action when he sees the bat signal!  Don't think me sacrilegious- I'm not comparing God to super-heroes.  He's incomparable!  And yet, it's the closest image I can come to.  So when God responds, it's not with advice, or pats on the back, or a busy signal, but with action.

He parts the heavens!  He mounts the backs of cherubim and swarms to David's aid!  He is a mighty conqueror!  You'll notice in verse 13 the title of this blog - "out of the brightness of His presence bolts of lightning blazed forth."  That's power - right?!?

That's the kind of power that comes to our aid every single time we need it.  The same intensity of power may come quietly, may come blazing, but the intensity, the desire to help His people, the fierceness of His protection for us - it never changes.

Just a blast of breath from his nostrils is enough to lay bare the foundations of the earth.  So . . . does God love us?  All this power, all this fierceness . . . is fueled by love.  We can never understand how much God loves us.  For now, let us accept the intensity, personified in this scripture, that is at the foundation of His love.  This old testament God, the God that so many have demonized and trivialized away as one who is mean, unloving, and punishing -- loves us with intensity that we cannot understand. All we can do is accept, with eternal gratitude, this unspeakable gift.

Will you go deeper with me tomorrow?  It gets even better!  Keep blazing!