Devotional Thought for the Day:

³  The voice of the LORD is heard on the seas; the glorious God thunders, and his voice echoes over the ocean. ⁴  The voice of the LORD is heard in all its might and majesty. ⁵  The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶  He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull. ⁷  The voice of the LORD makes the lightning flash. ⁸  His voice makes the desert shake; he shakes the desert of Kadesh. Psalm 29:3-8 (TEV)

¹¹  “Go out and stand before me on top of the mountain,” the LORD said to him. Then the LORD passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks—but the LORD was not in the wind. The wind stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹²  After the earthquake there was a fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the soft whisper of a voice. ¹³  When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” 1 Kings 19:11-13 (TEV)

The heart is like a home. There are houses that are open because they are at peace; they are welcoming because they have warmth. They are “not so tidy” as to make people afraid even to sit down neither so untidy as to become an embarrassment. The same goes for the heart: the heart that has room for the Lord also has space for others.

I look at the two Bible passages above, and they seem to contradict.

One reveals the Lord who is majestic, to whom all honor and glory is given. The God we are in awe, and if realistic, we should fear. The God who speaks commands and things become reality, where there was no reality.

The other reveals God who is our friend, the God who comforts the broken, who brings healing to them, who will wipe away every tear from our eyes. The God who we are in awe of, because He comes to us, invading our lives with His compassion and mercy. This is our Friend, our Abba, Father.

It is the same God, not two different gods. Not the first is the Old Testament God, the second the New. This isn’t a description of Father in the first paragraph, and the second describes Jesus. Both descriptions equally describe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So which God will I encounter?

This may sound odd, or perhaps awkward, but it doesn’t really matter. You can’t control which, and the response should be the same.

Yes, you read that correctly, the response to God is the same, whether He comes as your King, the Father who disciplines you, or your Deliverer, or your Comforter.

In each case, the initial response of awe should come naturally. But what happens next? How will we hear Him? Will we shudder and cower in fear? Will we embrace Him? Will we pour out our pain, and let Him begin to wash our feet? Will we adore Him, will we immediately enter into worship?

We cannot know, but we should have this happen. We should move from awe to gratitude. We should become grateful we find ourselves in His presence. For whether He comes in majesty, or comes as the suffering servant, He is here. He has come to dwell with us, to make our lives His home. And like the church that weeps and laughs and loves in Romans 12, He does all those things in our lives in resonance with us, being the God we need, even desperately need.

The Lord is with you.. and He loves you..

Rejoice and be glad, you are no longer alone…

Pope Francis, A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings, ed. Alberto Rossa (New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis, 2013), 312.