The weather has been really wonderful this week. The sun has shone, the temperatures soared and we've seen so much blue sky that I've even been tempted to call it summer.
Thoughts have been turning to holidays and good times in the future as well as superb days in the present.
That's why news from Burma about the destruction caused by the recent cyclone has been so distressing. It's a reminder that the forces of nature that gang together with the weather are the things that cause the greatest catastrophes around our world and the greatest loss of human life.
And so it's slightly disturbing when the Bible uses the same natural forces of wind and water and fire to describe God's Holy Spirit because these are the very same forces that have the ability to destroy us.
God has the power to create and obliterate, to help or to harm, but that potentially destructive power is controlled by His love and His justice. The arms that could crush you are the Father's arms that cuddle you and care for you and by receiving His Spirit you can come to know more fully the God who created you and loves you and shows His everlasting care for you.
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