Lithotripsy

This week, I had lithotripsy on a kidney stone.  Thank the Lord, it has gone very well.  For those of you not familiar with this treatment, it is a procedure where something like sound waves are targeted on your kidney stone to smash it up into small pieces that can then be passed out of the body.  That is just what happened.  It was a pretty remarkable experience - except I slept through it all.

Don't get me wrong, I would not want to be awake through it.  I have something like bruises on my back where these waves entered my body.  I don't think it would be enjoyable to go through awake, but it is still pretty remarkable that something unseen can enter your body and break apart something that is solid and jagged and painful and make it all go away.

As I thought about these sonic waves, I was reminded at how powerful sound can be - particularly the sound of the voice of the Lord in Psalm 29:

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. 

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 
 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.  And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”    The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.  Psalm 29 (selected verses).

The Psalmist imagined the power of the voice of God before anything was known about sound waves or sonic waves or lithotripsy .  Yet an even more powerful voice was yet to come.

By the power of his voice Jesus calmed a storm.  By the power of his voice he made the demon possessed whole again.  By the power of his voice he called Lazarus back from the dead to life again.  I wonder if you could somehow measure and chart the power of those sound waves of the voice of Jesus, what would they look like?  No instrument in this world can measure that, i know.  Yet, he often speaks to our souls in a "still, small voice."  His voice still has all the power that it ever has and he wants to speak to you and me.  We live in amazing times, but more importantly, we have an amazing God.

When did he last speak to you?

For the journey...

Tim