Devotional Blogging

I'm off this morning, but as I lie in bed listening to the thunder and watching the the lightening flash, I was reminded of the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 104:

"17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook." (NRSV)

These words come in the context of the psalmist recounting the exodus and praising God for delivering the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The Psalmist is asserting, contrary to pagan claims, that it is the God of Israel, and not the fertility god Ba'al, who controls the storms and the rain they bring. The pagans believed that Ba'al rode the thundercouds and threw down lightening bolts, the Psalmist is saying that it is not Ba'al but rather the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who reigns over the storm and dispenses the good things of life.