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Straits Times Singapore Saturday 30 April 2005
“Two golfers were killed on Thursday at about 5 pm as they sheltered from a storm with two fellow golfers and four caddies. The six survivors suffered severe burns. The lightning bolt hit a nearby tree and apparently passed through the metal shoe spikes of the two men aged 81 and 57, killing them instantly. The rain was heavy and the lightning was extraordinary. It was like a war zone. The tree was some 1. 5 meter from the shelter, and the bark of the tree trunk was ripped off. ”
Life insurers would classify the deaths as “Act of God. ”
Ponder the sad end of the two men who set out as they were wont to do, leaving home for a routine round of golf, but ending up in the death house. The Preacher’s comment on the case: “.... but time and chance happeneth to them all... so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them, ” like birds caught in the snare (Eccl 9:11,12 ).
Beyond the casual comment about “time and chance” the Preacher in a more serious and insightful statement says “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die... ” (Eccl 3:1,2 ). Man’s struggle to prolong this life “under the sun” is but part of “... travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it” (Eccl 3:10 ): it is futile and doomed to failure.
On the surface it was “time and chance” which took the life of the two golfers--as the world would say, “bad luck, ” but the Creator and Giver of life gives the real verdict: that for those two ill-fated men, their travail had come to an abrupt and tragic end.
We who are alive and enjoying life, even as the “lucky four” who escaped the lightning strike which had killed their fellow golfers, let us be reminded constantly, and daily, what God’s Word says about it: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die... ” according to the good pleasure of the Giver of Life who is also the taker of it.
Speaking of lightning and thunder, our thoughts go to the Exodus record of God visiting His people on Mount Sinai to deliver the Ten Commandments of the Law. This was the one and only time when God spoke to the nation Israel by an audible voice. The event was ushered in by “... thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount... And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire,,, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Ex 19:16-18 ).
Then came the giving of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, to Israel through Moses.
The presence of the Lord Creator was marked by a terrifying display of lightning and thunder, fire and smoke and a great earthquake.
Every time we experience lightning and thunder, let us see beyond the mere physical explanation of it as an outburst of pent-up electromagnetic energy, but rather see it as an awesome manifestation of God’s mighty power and presence. Let us remind ourselves it is the Lord who “... maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind... ” (Jer 10:13 ).
There is nothing more sobering and fearful than to be caught in a rainstorm, attended with lightning and thunder, which experience I shall now relate.
In 1970, a year after I commenced private practice, my good friend, Dr Aw invited me to join him for an afternoon’s sailing in the Straits of Johor. Arriving at the Changi Sailing Club, we each took a “Laser” sail-boat and soon we were merrily skimming the water in the Straits without a care in all the world.
As things turned out, I lost touch with Dr Aw, and thinking that somehow I would meet up with him, I sailed alone in a northerly direction toward Pulau Ubin and Johor. A stiff wind carried my craft forward with effortless ease. It was great going!
Just then I saw many other sail-boats heading south toward the Club, but took no particular notice of them. Ahead, it struck me that thick black clouds were rapidly gathering in the horizon, overshadowing the island of Pulau Ubin and the Malaysian mainland beyond.
As the saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss. ” Without a care, I sped north-wards, sailing straight into a tremendous “Sumatra Storm. ” Suddenly, without warning (or rather the warning being missed), the Sumatra broke and “all hell was let loose” over the Straits.
God’s power descended in a way I shall never forget. Deadly lightning flashes shot down from the sky in front, behind, and all around, with dazzling brilliance, attended by peels of earth-shaking thunder. Torrential rain poured down from the sky, and my Laser capsized in the boiling sea.
To save myself I climbed on top of the upturned hull. The display of lightning and thunder went on for what seemed an age; it must have been for a good fifteen terrifying minutes. At the height of the blinding downpour, I could not see one end of the craft from the other.
Never in my life had I felt so near death and God, and never have I prayed so earnestnessly. My one plea to God was this: “Lord, please spare my life. You have work for me, and I will surely do what You want me to do. But I have just left the University, and I have not even begun. Lord, spare my life for Thy own name’s sake. ”
I thought to myself as I sat on the upturned boat, what if the next day the Straits Times should report: Former University professor struck by lightning in Straits of Johor”? As it were, I reasoned with the Lord, “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence” (Ps 115:17 ). Lord, save me!
Amazingly, the lightning bolts flashed harmlessly around the boat, and not one struck the craft. Amazingly, too, the Sumatra storm abated as suddenly as it had begun. Praise the Lord!
Then, as if out of nowhere, my friend Dr Aw appeared alongside in his Laser and with the help of some passing fisherfolk, my boat was righted. Soon I was skimming the waves back to the Changi Sailing Club, never to sail again.
What is the purpose of telling my story?
Simply this: if you are a child of God, you are precious to Him and you are the object of His care. Our Lord Himself says to us: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29-31 ).
God has promised in His Word to save His people out of all their troubles. In countless promises of Holy Scripture we are assured of His care and protection.
“The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles... Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Ps 34:17 , 19 ).
“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day... There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone... Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him... He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Ps 91:5-16 )