Voice

lately i’ve been wishing i could hear God audibly telling me just what to do with my life. last night i heard him. he didn’t exactly say what i thought i wanted to hear, and it didn’t sound how i thought i wanted it to sound. nevertheless, it was him and he said what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it which is infinitely better.

this is what he sounded like…

(it’s important to note that a frighteningly spectacular thunderstorm and torrential downpour were raging outside in buja as i read these words)

the voice of the LORD is over the waters
the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters
The voice of the LORD is powerful
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty
the voice of the LORD breaks the cedars
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon
the voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire
the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh
the LORD sits enthroned over the flood
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
~from psalm 29

and here is what i heard him say…

the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—
surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no man is,
on the desert in which there is no man,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground sprout with grass?

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
or given understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
~from job 38