Friday, March 11, 2011

THE TSUNAMI

"The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever. (Psalm 93)

I don't usually quote from a WHOLE chapter on the blog, but that's the entirety of Psalm 93. A couple of nights ago, I read that for my personal devotional reading. Rather than just racing through the five verses, I really "soaked" in them. I gave them a LOT of thought.

It's been a hard time lately for a lot of people. I had my teeth cleaned yesterday. The woman cleaning my teeth told me that over the past few months she's had many people come through for cleaning who are going through "impossible" situations and that she's never seen life be like this before. I agreed.

Psalm 93 tells us that as bad as it gets, God is mightier and greater and we need to look to Him. I know that is much easier said than done, but it's a spiritual discipline. As I meditated on the words of this Psalm I was especially struck by the line,
"The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea."

I thought about the power of the tsunami of just a few years ago- the force, the destruction; and how helpless the people must have felt when the tsunami came.

Some of us feel that we've been hit by an emotional or spiritual or financial tsunami; maybe by all three. OR maybe the tsunami is cancer or the murder of a loved one. It's devastating. It's OK to feel devastated and it's OK to go through the process of grief.

But we must remember that no matter how we FEEL God is there. He wants us to spend eternity with Him and not to be so rocked by these "tsunamis" that we turn from Him.

Ironically, I turned on the radio this morning and the newscast reported a strong earthquake AND TSUNAMI which happened in Japan! And as I write, there is a tsunami warning for Hawaii and a tsunami watch for the U.S. Pacific Coast.

Oh God, as the old song says, "I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need thee..."

2 comments:

jon TK said...

I just read that one recently too.

Here's another old song for you: "There is a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea."

BOYS ADVENTURES said...

Rich Mullins. What a poet. My favorite songwriter, and 'The Love of God' is a good one...

"Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God"