Thursday, February 6, 2020

The God of Our Disasters

We see throughout God’s word many times where disaster was at hand, but then God intervened! I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. 
We see that not a hair on their head is singed, the word even goes as far to say, “and no smell of fire had come upon them.” We find several other dire situations where God comes through in the clutch, Jesus calming the storm when the disciples think there is an impending disaster, Paul surviving a shipwreck among at least a dozen other things, how about Jonah surviving being swallowed by a whale, or Noah and his family living through 40 days and 40 nights of nonstop monsoon? 
These are just a few samples that we find in the Bible and they are excellent reminders that when we are going through the disaster we face in life, we feel like our life is burning to the ground, that all we have to do is turn to the Lord and place our trust in Him. Regardless of our situation. This doesn’t mean that we stop being responsible or turn away from wisdom, but it does mean that we don’t need to try and do everything on our own. It is a great thing when we see God leave reminders to us throughout life. I’ve recently seen a couple of stories about houses or churches that have burned to the ground, but bibles survived or beams where scripture was written didn’t burn. Click Here for the story from the Washington Post
Lots of times, people feel like these are sensationalized or fabricated stories, I think they are great reminders to us, as just a small example of how great and how big God can be in our lives if we let him.
My parents’ house was destroyed by a hurricane back in 2017, and it was just filled with rubble, debris, and disaster, and as I got down the upstairs hallway, right outside of what was my childhood bedroom, I discovered one page from a Bible. It was from Genesis 1, right there at the beginning, the creation story. It was an excellent reminder to me that if God could take from nothing and create EVERYTHING, this demolition and rebuild on my parents’ house was no big deal for him. 
There are fires, storms, demos and rebuilds currently taking place in your life. Today, it is your choice, trust the God of the fiery furnace, that calms stormy waters, shuts the lion’s mouths, and provides safety in the scariest of circumstances, or don’t trust Him. You can go either way, but I can tell you from personal experience, trusting the Lord, it wins out every time.
“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
– Proverbs 3:5-6  (ESV)
~Ryan Rose

Sunday, February 2, 2020