Psalm 18:14  
Acts of God?
  In Revelation 4:5 we are granted a brief and tantalizing peek into the throne room of heaven. Seated upon the throne is one who had the appearance of jasper and ruby and around Him is a rainbow that shines like emerald. From the throne comes flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Let there be no doubt then, that such phenomena accompany the presence of the Most High God and that these things are not just earthly symbols but they represent a heavenly, divine presence. In this verse of Psalm 18, the bolts of lightning rout God’s enemies.  Who could withstand the power of the forces described in the previous verse? So, what are these arrows that are shot by God and that scatter His foes? The rainbow, as a bow, points away from the earth and is a symbol of God’s peace and the withholding of His wrath. The bow that points towards the earth shoots the arrows of His anger and judgement at His enemies. It seems that these are the lightning bolts, bolt of course, being another name for an arrow.
Does God use natural weapons against His enemies? In Joshua 10 we read of the rout of the 5 kings of the Ammonites by Joshua and his army on the day that the sun stood still in the heavens. On that day, “the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.” Verse 11. In Judges 5:20, the Philistines fled in terror when the Lord thundered from heaven as they were about to attack the Israelites. Job quotes the Lord as saying, “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?”  It is easy for us to dismiss these things because science has taught us much about natural events but, we have no control over the elements and very little prior knowledge as to when and where they will hit. Are we right therefore, to question God’s ability to use these weapons if He so chooses? Our ancestors used to call such things, “acts of God” but of course, we are much too sophisticated to believe such things nowadays!

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