Thoughts from Pastor Dave

ARCHIVES
June 2005 article
July 2005 article
August 2005 article
September 2005 article

This article originally appeared in the October 2005 Gold Canyon Lifestyle

The Lord of the Storm
Pastor Dave Abbatacola

If ever you need to know and truly comprehend that God is sovereign - it is when hurricanes blow through and devastate whole cities at a time. Or when tsunamis take out thousands without warning. Or when tornadoes wreak havoc on a community. Or when terrorists crash planes into buildings. Or to put it another way, when it doesn’t seem like God is in control, I need to believe that God is in control When it looks like life is unraveling or evil has gotten the upper hand or God has fallen asleep or chaos rules and reigns - I need to look up and believe: “God you are still God.”

So God the Father, in His loving kindness, has given me His Word. In the Bible I don’t get all the answers to life’s many questions. I don’t even get all the principles I need when facing the trauma of New Orleans. I don’t get all the information to comfort and console me, not to mention the many victims or their families. I do get something very incredible, however. I can find the very character of God Himself, the Lord of heaven and earth, in the Bible.

“Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him”
(Luke 8:25). “He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke” (Psalm 104:32). “He shakes the earth from its place and its pillars tremble” (Job 9:6). "But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight" (Psalm 104:7).

God is in control. He knows infinitely more than I ever will. He rules the heavens and the earth with incredible precision. He has a purpose for everything and the secret things will remain secret for as long as He wills. Those who truly know Him personally will spend an eternity learning more about Him. So I add to my finite mind the above verses with verses like these: “...the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8); “You are kind...O Lord” (Psalm 86:5); “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God...” (Exodus 34:6). “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

And yet, I still don’t understand. My heart, as yours does, still breaks when you see the news and hear the stories and read the sad accounts of loss, families torn apart, and absolute carnage. Although I truly know some things (as above verses and more are believed in the soil of faith) I’m still left aching, what are we to do?

“Mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15) and put compassion into action. Our hearts break over hurting people because we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). To reach into our wallets and pull up our sleeves and begin to help with the clean up is all very much God-like. It was when the world was lost that God reached out in love and Jesus emptied Himself to save mankind (John 3:16; Philippians 2:6-11). And God commands that we do the same to those less fortunate. We give, we reach out, we pray, we weep. And we should do it all through the grid of God’s Word as we get to know Him better through it all.

I have also been praying for something else since the hurricane. I pray that my heart would break like Jesus’ heart breaks when He looks over a city or community. However, Jesus doesn’t need a hurricane, a tsunami, a tornado, or terrorists for His heart to break. All it takes for His heart to break is to see lost people. People living life without the knowledge of His Saving Grace. May I give, and pray, and weep, and extend compassion even when there is no hurricane.