The Thunder of His Power

The thunder of His power, who can understand? That is what Job (Job 26:14) eventually came to face in His dramatic encounter with God. Indeed, realizing also that this “thunder of His power” is only the fringe of His ways.

Job’s sudden awareness of the magnitude and magnificence of God jolted him out of the grip of the dire circumstances the adversary of his soul had designed to overwhelm him. This encounter changed Job and his entire view of life. Significantly so, as God’s presence impacted and changed those key biblical characters who also experienced direct encounters with Him.

Hebrews 1:3 further captures the depth touched from encounters with His presence …. bridging the impact of generations of such encounters …. noting that the Son is the radiance of His power, the exact representation of His being …. sustaining all things by the word of His power. The word of power, the authority comprising the foundation to create.

In reality, the dimensions of the thunder of His power and this explosive nature of His word of power bring exponential increase from encounters of such indefinable energy. Moses tapped this reality, expressing (Deut 29:29) that the secret things belong to the Lord, BUT with those being revealed belonging to us and our children forever. A mere grasp of the fringe of the revealed is not just at the heart of change, but the essence behind the ability to create. This verse concludes with “that we might do all the words of this law/ Torah/ instruction.” Indeed, a critical link and bridge for those navigating a worldly setting …. to the reality of His presence.

Ecclesiastes 8:4 flips this dynamic into a worldly context unveiling  “where the word of a King is, there is power.” Again, a mere fringe of this reality is held by the Living Word who upholds all creation by His word of power. This is the glimmer, the reality that Job was exposed to in his encounter with God. It taps what Scripture refers to as “the mysteries.”

So, this unfathomable power is uniquely tied to His imparted Word and His ways. Yet in the course of colliding world events there has arisen, what scripture has shown us a limited few whose encounters with this power have enabled them to redirect it: Moses’ parting of the Red Sea; Joshua’s command of the sun standing still in the sky; Elijah’s calling down of the fire. And then, extending into our present generation, those who have entered the realm of the supernatural manifestation of miracles.

Yet, the harnessing of supernatural power is such that its historical results have been evidenced in both those intent on evil, as well as good. Despite that reality, when the forces of good and evil collide, the potential outcome depends on the unwavering faith-response of the good, as was seen with Daniel’s encounter with Nebuchadnezzar. 

Job’s amazing encounter and awareness of the thunder of His power taps pivotal issues we grapple with as believers in the mix of interpreting and responding to the realities around us, which are at the helm of directing our destinies.

Embracing Power
What we’re uncovering goes beyond the impact of the encounter itself. It is tied to an indelible link between the one wielding that power and the power itself.

Before His encounter, Job was already doing a fairly good job of it, of wielding that power. He was stewarding the good and doing it well; a community leader with vast influence. His amassing of wealth was well beyond the ordinary. Pretty much skewed to the side of good and God, notwithstanding the dalliances of his wayward kids. No question of that being the chink in the armor, along with the misguided tongues of those deemed as his friends.

Something More
So with what pivoted at that juncture, because of His track-record, God intended a higher purpose …. that required first the encounter and then a more substantive grasp of his role and influence in his redirecting and wielding of this power. The result was dramatic as God blessed Job’s latter days and the reach of his influence far more than the former.

Highlighting this clash of good and evil, God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a dream that showed until the time of the end that the kingdoms, the crux of worldly power, would collide. Overshadowing that process will emerge a Kingdom not shaped by human hands that will impact the worldly systems and emerge to last forever. It is a picture of God’s enduring power and rule.

While gleaning from the examples of those heroes of faith who so dramatically wielded God’s power, we are reminded of the wisdom Paul imparted to the Corinthians, that “these things happened as examples for us.”

God’s intention has been to have a people, who respond with the authority to wield this power when facing the infiltrations of evil. David’s leadership in terms of aligning a unified Kingdom-front probably represented the closest of the “examples” of this God-design of restoration, prior to the resurrection and outpouring of the power of the Spirit.

The Paradoxes
Understanding the Kingdom, which is our twenty-first century “cry of Moses” to “show us His ways that we might know Him” involves our grasp of paradoxical truths that are the cornerstones of the Kingdom. Of those paradoxical truths is that of Psalm 18:35 and the words of David, observing that “His gentleness has made him great.” Those words follow a rash of an expository in this psalm about power and strength.

Indeed, the thunder of His power and His gentleness represent one of those unusual paradoxes at the heart of our grasp of wielding Kingdom power with the unfolding events overshadowed by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Those paradoxes go back to that link between the ones wielding the power and the power itself.

The Cost
We observe that wielding this power, the word of His power, comes at a cost. That cost being the life of the one seeking it …. with no middle ground. It entails everything: the thinking, the mind-set, the destiny. A cost reflected in a pattern seen in the lives of the prophets and heroes of faith who were given the authority to wield God’s power …. again being uniquely tied to His word and His ways.

The Secret Things
At the crux of understanding the cost and this pattern is the communing, the all-encompassing exchange and communication between the one tapping the authority for the power and the source of power itself.

Conventional prayer doesn’t quite capture the intensity and depth of this communing, although prayer is a vital part. Likewise, the dynamic becomes even more surreal when it transcends beyond the one who serves as a catalyst in wielding the power.

In each of the examples of the prophets and the heroes of faith, the wielder of the power was seeking to acquaint those in their sphere of influence with the cry of Moses to grasp His ways that they might know Him.

Scripture notes that Israel saw His works but Moses understood His ways. This is the defining difference between the largely one-sided prayers …. and the encounters that release the power and the exchange that undergird the employment of the authority of that power.

Another dimension to understanding the cost relates to what post-resurrection scripture refers to as a sound mind. The recompense of that cost is a challenge to our Western mind-sets, tapping an arena vaguely alluded to in scripture as suffering.

Suffering operates on two primary levels, the sacrifice of the flesh in yielding to righteousness …. and the persecution, the backlash that results from righteousness in being a God-reflector.

Suffering, at times perhaps reflects a loss as Job experienced, but more so it is the active communing that results in the relinquishment of one’s personal desires in their quest for His. A gateway cost that challenges natural human inclinations and thinking … a dimension enshrouding the thunder of His power for those approaching and encountering it …. the catalyst for employing His authority.

When Good and Evil Collide
So it is, that this is the often resulting crucible when good and evil collide …. being the springboard for good finding a higher release. It was operating through Daniel’s influence and anointing that brought Nebuchadnezzar to the first step with his “encountering” dream.

So also, the impact of Job’s encounter with the thunder of God’s power points to his question of this crucible …. of “who can understand it?” It is where faith taps the demonstration of His power …. into a reality that manifests beyond normal human comprehension. ‘

Job’s encounter with God did follow that of extreme loss …. his health, his wealth, those he held most dear. Yet, it was more than that. The loss came after his encounter with evil …. a power God had previously protected him against. It was not until he had experienced the impact from the pure breath of evil, that he was stirred sufficiently to transcend his human sensibilities to more fully embrace the thunder of God’s power …. that in becoming acquainted with the extent of His magnificence.

It certainly is a prophetic picture suggestive of the response of the persecuted church, having encountered the severity of loss resulting from the hot, destructive breath of evil.

There’s something about such encounters that trigger the higher purposes of God that tend to shape our destinies. Even more so, when those higher purposes of God are embraced by us “as a people.”

When It Becomes Overwhelming
Again, “who can get their mind around it?” An issue bearing on the importance of what scripture admonishes as maintaining a sound mind. Following Elijah’s encounter with calling down the fire, he fled and essentially was overwhelmed, having to be sustained by angelic power …. strongly pointing to the cost of the wielding of this power.

Jonah was unable to get his head around what God tasked him to do with his enemy, the Ninevites …. and with tangible evidence of avoiding his assignment, he fled. It suggests the role of suffering that most of the prophets were subjected to because of the conflict that can result from the “fire” of backlash embraced from His word of power.

Yet, it takes something more than the encounter. With the communication he had with God, Jeremiah not only bemoaned being born, but expressed to God essentially that the cost was too much. He was overwhelmed.
“I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation. Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable? Jeremiah 15:17-18

At which point the Lord not only promised to strengthen him, but to sovereignly protect him from the persecution he had been subjected to.
“If you return, then I will restore you— you will stand before Me; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, but as for you, you are not to turn to them. Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and rescue you,” declares the LORD. “So I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.” Jeremiah 15:19-21

Such is not only a glimpse of the very high standard to penetrate this veil, but that of the Kingdom paradoxes, the mysteries that confound what seem as the natural order of things: we live by dying; we advance by yielding; we gain by giving; we pray for our enemies.

Yet, at the pinnacle of the hard-to-grasp mysteries found throughout scripture is that of judgment. Perhaps better clarified ….. judgment and the ability of those raising the standard to grasp it.

It captures how the book of Hebrews describes Jesus as being the radiance or the reflector of His glory. It explains the hesitation and quibbling of Jonah, the breakdown of Elijah, why God reached out with “reasoning” to more than a couple of the prophets due to the severe persecution that resulted from upholding the standard.

What Job encountered with the thunder of His power was what is described in Hebrews as the “dividing asunder between soul and spirit.” To not just know about Him, but to tap the realm of communication that truly “knows Him and His heart.” 

From the beginning, the encounter, the communication-exchange is that dividing asunder between soul and spirit that distinguishes those who truly know God from those who do not. It was what Daniel tried to explain to Nebuchadnezzar when despite him acknowledging God, his pride blinded him until having lost his mind, he truly came to know Him.

And that is where the crux of the encounter lies …. in that dimension of our minds …. individually and as a Body when evil manifests …. that gives birth to the realm between soul and spirit …. the simultaneous wonder of when the thunder of His power congeals with His gentleness and creativity and releases greatness and great things.

It underscore the response of Elijah in the cave to the dimensions of the thunder of His power  ….. but with the factor making all the difference being the gentleness of the still, small voice that was able to draw Elijah out of the overwhelming tail-spin that had been too much for his finite mind to grasp.

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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner of the Joseph-calling and God’s economy message, being an international voice for the higher dimensions of spiritual game-changers and intercessors since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation, the Strategic Intercession Global Network [SIGN] and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program and the Jewish Business Secrets YouTube series, Mr. Ruddick’s messages equip leaders and economic community builders with strategy where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.

He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to 3838 South Wabash Street, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at https://strategic-initiatives.org/donate/

2025 Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org

Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information go to https://strategic-initiatives.org