What Glory Fills Your Temple?

As a temple of God we should have as much of the glory of Christ surrounding us and in us as the temple in Jerusalem was filled with the glory of God in Isaiah's vision. What observations are you seeing of Christ's glory in your life right now? How does He reveal Himself to you through His Word? In prayer do you ask Him to show Himself instead of asking for the "stuff"? How awed are you at the magnitude of the universe? Have you looked for Him in the small stuff? What is stirred within you when you consider the complexity of nature over which we are powerless?

In the Memphis, Tennessee area where my family makes its home, we had the opportunity to experience that last one up close and personal. It was a few years back, July 22, 2003, to be exact. As the city awoke for the day, some thunderstorms crossed the Mississippi River from Arkansas into downtown Memphis. They were no longer just thunderstorms. As the storms crossed the river something happened and these became straight line winds, which blew at hurricane force. I believe the technical weather term is a derecho.

Within twenty minutes the entire city and county were totally crippled. A full seventy-five percent of the utility company's customers were left without power, an outage which for some lasted nearly two weeks in the heat of a humid Memphis summer. An area which boasts of its many, many old and, therefore, enormous trees found many of them uprooted and lying flat on the ground. On almost every block there was at least one home damaged if not destroyed by these uprooted trees or falling limbs. Grocery stores had to discard much of their perishable food. It took several days for them to restock, and that was after their power was restored.

Did we see the extreme power of God in all of this? You better believe we did. At first look that might seem more like His vengeance, and perhaps it was. But yet in His mercy, only a few lives were lost, most of which were from careless use of candles and generators after the fact. Only one lost life was a direct result of the storm itself. People worked together to clean up the mess. There may have been grumbling about the length of time the power was out, but utility crews were cheered and applauded by residents as block by block they brought the city back to life. We are privileged to see glimpses of God's glory in so many ways; and, YES, I believe we can even see glimpses of His glory in the devastating effects of nature.

Comparing that storm to the storms of life, there are some striking similarities. They usually come unexpectedly. They knock us down hard. We have the choice of throwing a temper tantrum, acting childish, and allowing the storm to keep us in a crippled state. Or we can look to God's faithfulness in the past and trust Him as slowly but surely, "block by block" with His guidance we put the pieces back together, and we walk into the future knowing He is there and He knows what we are going through -- He's even walking right there with us!