Distributing the Lightning

Mark Twain said, "The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right."  Apparently, Twain was convinced that he would do a better job than God at weeding out the idiots among us.  But aren't you glad that God has reserved the task of lightning distribution for Himself and has allowed it to be tempered by His grace, His mercy, and His love rather than determined by His righteousness and justice.  I find that people, in general, and Christians, with great regularity, jump to conclusions about other people and are ready to fire the lightning bolts, often before the whole story has come to light.  Comedian Bill Engvold has made a very good living pointing out people's stupidity, as he sees it, based on statements that they make without thinking them through. He says that he wishes stupid people had to wear a sign so you would know what you were dealing with right up front. He tells about a time when he and his buddy went fishing together.  As they pulled back into the dock with a big stringer of fish, a guy on the dock asked them, "Did ya'll catch all those fish?"  Engvold replied, "Nope, talked 'em into giving up."  "Here's your sign."  The problem with this line of thinking is that we all say stupid things every once in a while.  I was having lunch at the Lazy Parrot the other day with Shelley and Steve and we were talking about the location of the restaurant and the fact that their sign sort of blends into the surroundings, making it hard to see.  I said, "You know, if I didn't know that this restaurant was here, I wouldn't know that it was here."  Now there is an intelligent statement!  If Mark Twain was distributing the lightning, I would have been zapped right there.  But God is merciful and I am thankful for that.  The one area where foolishness becomes the most dangerous is when a person begins to live his life as if there is no God.  The Bible calls that man a fool,(Ps. 14:1; 53:1) and the path that he follows will ultimately lead to his destruction. 
The warning for us in all of this is found in Matthew 5.  Jesus warned against premature judgment and open rebuke of fools, saying that God is the righteous Judge and that we should keep our accounts current with the people around us.  If we would spend a little more time showing the love of Christ to people in need and a little less time comparing them to our standard of intelligence or perfection, we would see why God withholds the lightning.  We serve a God of righteousness, justice, and power, but all of those attributes are ruled by the fact that God is, in very essence, love.  So, I'm pretty sure there's not going to be any lightning today. :0)