18 September 2007 Devotion for Today "Memories of Isabel" Luke 8:25

18 September 2007  Devotion for Today  “Memories of Isabel”  Luke 8:25

 

It was four years ago today that a major hurricane struck the North Carolina Coast with fierce winds and rain.  Granted, it was not nearly the scale of Katrina or Andrew, but for us, it was enough.  Hurricane Isabel claimed at least one life and did millions of dollars of property damage with wind gusts up to 110 miles per hour.   The electricity went off and stayed off for about a week as we spent that time cleaning up debris, removing fallen trees and limbs, and trying to get back to normal.  We had just moved to Elizabeth City two months before, but during Isabel, we got to know our neighbors perhaps much better than we would have otherwise.  They even issued a T-shirt (I never got one, for some reason) with the phrase emblazoned on the front “I Survived Isabel!”

 

When you go through a storm, whether it be a hurricane, a divorce, a death in the family, or any other kind of loss, you are never alone.  The devastation and pain that you feel hurts, and it is intensely personal.  But you must always remember that there are millions of people who are feeling the hurt that you feel.   Above them all is God Himself.

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."  Luke 8:25

 

            God feels your pain, and He feels your hurt.  Now the obvious point any detractor may wish to make here is, “If God can feel my hurt, why did He allow the storm in the first place?”  I wish I could answer that one.  I know He has a purpose for the storm, even though it may not make much sense to me.  But what does make sense is that I have a personal God who loves me and cares about me, and is concerned when I hurt and draws His loving arms around me.  He is a God who gives me the strength to pick up the pieces of my life and start over again.  He is a God who speaks to me in the midst of the storm to comfort me and tell me, “You are going to get through this!”   He is a God who is going to give me a future, in one form or another, even if the storm takes my life.   There are those who ask, “What kind of a God would cause a storm to bring untold suffering to millions of innocent people?”    I would rather live with a God who caused the storm, who considers my plight and life in it, than to go through a storm without a God who caused it and without a God who cares for me after it.   I would rather have a God who caused the storm who knows how to calm the storm as well.

            Have a blessed day

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

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