Lightning rod and the cross

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Lightning is very powerful. There are a lot of mysteries about lightning, but we understand some simple things about it. Charges build up on clouds in the sky and the force of that charge is so destructively powerful that it has to be directed somewhere, either from cloud to cloud or quite often to the neutral ground. But if a tree or a house or a person is standing between that charged cloud and the ground, the lightning releases all its destructive power on that object. This destructive power can kill people, rip trees apart and start houses on fire. In order to keep our houses and buildings from catching on fire, we install lightning rods with grounding wires on those structures. The lightning strikes the building with all its fury, but instead of damaging the building or starting a fire, the lightning rod absorbs all the energy and directs it safely to the ground. Jesus on the cross was the lightning rod for God’s anger over sin. By sacrificing Himself there, He absorbed all of God’s anger and directed it safely away from us, so that instead of killing us eternally, we could now be comforted by God.

Jesus turned God’s anger away, so that God can now comfort you. That is what Isaiah celebrates in Isaiah 12:1-6: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.”

Dear Lord, we thank You that You were the lightning rod for our sin. We thank You for the special gift that You gave to each of us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Lightning or Thunder.

John 8:12 (New International Version)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

A great story from one of America's greatest story-tellers, Abraham Lincoln, was related by the president during those anxious days of the American Civil War. A delegation of well-meaning patriots tried to impress upon the president the gravity of the war. They implied that his administration was neither as wise nor good as it ought to be. He listened carefully, then responded with a memorable anecdote.

He told them that he once had a neighbor who found himself in a tight situation. He was traveling home one dark and rainy night. There were few bridges in the country and he came to a stream that he would have to ford. But because of the darkness and the rain, he couldn't see well enough to know just where to cross.

Lightning flashed and he saw his way for the briefest moment. But the man was perplexed because there seemed to be more thunder than lightning. He was convinced that every lightning flash was followed by several loud peals of thunder. The poor man just stood at the edge of the stream in his confusion about how to proceed. He finally prayed, "O Lord, if it is just the same to you, give me more light and less noise."

The delegation clearly got the point that the president needed more solutions and less complaining - more light and less noise.

Some people are more like light and others are more like noise.

Some people shed light on solutions. Others only make a din about the way things are.

Some people help us to see the situation more clearly. Others just sound off about who's to blame.

Some people show a better way. Others only clamor about the present course of action.

Some people offer to help. Others just wail about the problem.

The sun rises every morning and sheds light -- vanquishing the night's darkness. The rooster also rises every morning... and makes noise -- neither shedding light nor dispelling the darkness.

What could your work environment, your family or your life be like if everyone were like the sun rather than the rooster? What if we all decided to contribute to the light?

Dear Lord we pray that we would be part of the light rather than the noise. We want to show the light that you have given to us to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sin and lightning

Below is a story told by a man about thunderstorms and the lesson he learned. He goes on to say.

I love thunderstorms. I love to sit and watch the bolts of lightning that streak downward in stunning displays of light and power. But after yesterday, I don't think I'll ever look at lightning the same way again.

I was driving down Route 3, on my way home from a week as the Bible teacher at Camp Fairhaven, and the thunderstorm warnings came on the radio. I smiled. Then I watched as bolt after bolt of lightning flashed across the sky in the distance. The stikes were quite far away.

Or so I thought.


Then, suddenly, as I was zipping along at 50 miles per hour, the most extraordinary thing happened. There was a bright flash of light, a sudden bang (much more than a clap or a boom - this was deafening!) and my car seemed to lift up off the roadbed and slam back down about a foot to the right of where it had been a second earlier.

For a moment I felt as though both my brain and my heart had shut off. The shock (not electrical) of the moment was really quite astonishing. It took me, perhaps, two or three seconds to realize that my car had just been struck by lightning. Though the electrical shock had passed through the metal shell of the car and left me untouched, it was several minutes before my hands stopped trembling and my breathing and heartbeat returned to normal.

And now, I don't think I shall ever enjoy a thunderstorm in quite the same way again.




I was thinking, as I continued driving home, that we often think of sin in the same way that I think of thunderstorms. Sin entertains and amuses us. It fascinates us. We think that we can dabble in it, stay on the fringes of it, and remain untouched by it.

But sin is far too powerful for us to "dabble" in it. As frighteningly powerful as lightning is, sin is just as powerful, and just as deadly. Sin has a way of catching us off-guard when we least expect it, and striking a blow that can ruin our lives.

“But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.

- Numbers 32:23 (New International Version)





Dear Lord we pray that we would always turn to You and that we would not let the sins in our life take us over. Help us be strong. In Jesus’ name, amen.