Just a bunch of noise …

As a young child, I was terrified of thunder. I didn’t know what it was, and was only mildly pacified later when I learned thunder is the result of lightning.

Scientific American provides this simple explanation for thunder:

“Thunder is caused by lightning, which is essentially a stream of electrons flowing between or within clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. The air surrounding the electron stream is heated to as hot as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is three times hotter than the surface of the sun. As the superheated air cools it produces a resonating tube of partial vacuum surrounding the lightning’s path. The nearby air rapidly expands and contracts. This causes the column to vibrate like a tubular drum head and produces a tremendous crack. As the vibrations
gradually die out, the sound echoes and reverberates, generating the rumbling we call thunder. We can hear the thundering booms 10 miles or more distant from the lightning that caused it.”

So it’s actually the remarkable work of lightning that causes the loud noise we know as thunder.

That’s unlike what we often experience. We’re used to a lot of loud noise without anything remarkable at it’s core.

We preach loudly, but fail to make disciples.

We criticize loudly, but fail to contribute anything constructive.

We  complain loudly, but fail to be grateful.

We condemn loudly, but fail to forgive.

We worry loudly, but fail to have faith.

We get loud, but often achieve nothing of positive consequence from it.

We just roar and boom and rumble.

Kind of like Pharaoh Neco of Egypt during the days of Jeremiah the prophet. In his message about King Nebuchadnezzar’s plans to attack Egypt, we read this statement from the prophet:

“There they will say, ‘Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is a loudmouth who missed his opportunity!’” Jeremiah 46:17.

Pharaoh boasted loudly, but there was little substance behind the noise. Neco was a lot of thunder, without anything remarkable behind the noise. He talked a big game, but missed his opportunity with God.

How about your life: is there real substance behind the talk? Or do you generate more noise than anything substantive? Is God the remarkable core for what makes you loud, or are you missing your opportunity with Him?

Scotty