Seems everyone is trying to get their head around the recent storm catastrophes. The grief, the survivor’s guilt, the destruction, the death and loss. Then add to this the news of local childhood deaths and our friends fighting cancer. That’s the big stuff. What about the normal strain?
I had three phone calls in one day with friends who said, “We need God to provide TODAY.” In one day.
As I have been talking to the Lord, I keep sensing He is shaking us loose. From the world’s perspective. From possessions. From false securities. From weaker love. From selfish goals.
He is not cruel. Or absent.
But rather He is deeply invested in us experiencing His Real Life. The Eternal Life this side of heaven. He is shaking us out of our systems and structures so that we might truly live.
He is Our-Ever-Present-Hope-In Time-of-Need God.
But this is no time for spiritual bandaids or platitudes.
No, this God is WITH us. In the middle of the mud, debris, debt and even death.
We wail. We mourn. We lament. We bless the dying and bury the dead. We move the sludge and destruction. We rebuild. We live.
With Him. For Him.
Through
Him.
We can see God in every moment of every heartache filled day. In the hands that rushed to help. In the hearts that rushed to pray. In the Spirit who rushed to comfort. Never mistake the presence of God always “hovering over the waters.”
Speak this declaration out loud. Let your ears hear as you utter the words and know your words carry life into the unseen world. God will not fail us.
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46