Storm
The night before last we had a storm. Thunder & lightening, fierce winds, pounding rain. Tornado warnings. Some tornadoes touched down and destroyed homes, though not in our immediate area. Many power outages, some of which continue. Flooding in some areas.
Storms like this remind us of the tremendous power inherent in nature. All of which was created and is controlled by (appropriate title) the Almighty.
There are storms in the scriptures. Some come immediately to mind: The storm that struck Jonah’s ship. (Jonah 1:4-16) The two that Jesus commanded to stop. (Mark 4:37-41 & Matthew 8:24-26) The one that shipwrecked Paul. (Acts 27:13-44)
Others might occur to us with a little more thought: The hailstorm of the seventh plague in Egypt. (Exodus 9:13-35) The flooding of Wadi Kishon that aided Barak and Deborah’s defeat of Sisera. (Judges 4:13-15 & 5:21) At least three in Elijah’s life—the one that broke the drought and caused him to warn Ahab about impending flooding (1 Kings 18:41-46); the wind on Horeb that broke rocks (1 Kings 19:11); the tornado that carried him away (2 Kings 2:11). There was another tornado, from which God spoke to Job. (Job 38:1) And other hailstorms, stormy winds, floods, and so on.
All of this was and is under God’s control. The writer of Psalm 148 calls all creation to glorify God, including, “Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!” (Psalm 148:7-8)
Things like severe weather and earthquakes remind us of the might of the Lord God of creation. Which is good, but why does it take something frightening and dangerous to make us think about it? We have the power of the sun on display every day, which feeds us and all creation. And many other less dramatic evidences of His great power.
Our hearts go out to those who suffer losses in severe storms. But shouldn’t our hearts go out to those who suffer from more everyday trials? When asked that way, the answer has to be, “Of course we should.” In the wake of storms and earthquakes there are always relief efforts—we want to help, and it’s good that we do. Shouldn’t we want to help when a more personal “storm” affects someone?
Isaiah, looking forward to the Kingdom age, writes:
Indeed, a king will reign righteously, and rulers will rule justly. Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain, like flowing streams in a dry land and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land. (Isaiah 32:1-2 CSB)
If we would like to be among those “rulers”, perhaps we should consider what we can do now—to whatever extent we can—to share shelter with those affected by the “storms” of life. Taking a lesson from such things as thunderstorms, how grateful we ought to be for the shelter provided for us by the Almighty one, through the King He has anointed.
Love, Paul