The power of nature is at once astounding and awe-inspiring, but also can turn deadly before we know it. As it stands now, at least 137 people have died across six states resulting from the power and force of Hurricane Helene. Many more remain missing and unaccounted for. The storm seemed to come up quickly and gain remarkable strength. The devastation it has wrought is almost incomprehensible.
What storms are brewing in our lives right now? There may be storms of grief for the loss of loved ones. We’ve lost 3 persons in recent times related to our congregation. Certainly there is a storm of grief hovering nearby, or we find ourselves in the midst of just such a storm. There may be storms surrounding a relationship or friendship that seems estranged at the moment. Lots of currents can swirl around us and make us act and react in ways not in keeping with the love poured into us. There may be financial storms that threaten to capsize our lives. There may be emotional storms which wreak havoc on our psyche, moving us into dark and treacherous places in our minds.
We each have storms we battle, while many times feeling alone and isolated. Those who battled with Helene faced some pretty terrifying odds for survival. What are we to do when our storms come? How are we to cope?
The prophet Nahum tells us in chapter 1:7, “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” Too often we neglect to see the refuge, the shelter, God offers when we are in distress. We try to tough it out on our own. We try every thing we can, when maybe we should turn first to God and see what God offers us.
The writer of Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 asks us…”Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” Just as the people along the coast of Florida tried to do, we try to prepare for what might happen. The thing is, none of us can know the future. If God has made the good and bad times, do we not think God will be with us in both circumstances?
In Isaiah 25:4-5 we are told about what God has been, is and will be. “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.”
Every one of those 137 lives lost had a story, a history. Every one of those lives, whether they recognized it or not, had God’s presence with them in the storm. We are told there are times when God quiets storms, but most often, God merely walks with us through our storms, giving us shelter, providing a refuge. This is where we are to turn when our storms come. Oftentimes, we want to scream and yell at God about our storms. “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” That’s what the Disciples said to Jesus as he slept through a storm they were enduring. Of course God cares about the storms in our lives. When those storms take our loved ones, when those storms threaten us financially, emotionally, relationally, God cares. What we need to know is, life is full of storms, and we are going to have to weather them. The nature of life is, things are going to happen to us. God doesn’t deflect our storms, God walks with us through our storms. If you feel like yelling and screaming at God, go ahead. God knows and feels our frustration, our anxiety, our pain. God knows our human propensity to try and lay blame for our storms on something or someone. God also knows we will eventually realize God has never left our side.
May God’s love and grace enfold each of us, shelter us when we are going through our storms, and help us to sense God’s presence beside us, in us, behind us, and before us. Amen.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom