A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Category 3 hurricane Helene was predicted. Urgent warnings of 80 mile-an-hour winds and dangerous flash floods were issued. I did my best to do everything they suggested to prepare. Bread. Milk. Bottled water. Dog food. Fresh batteries in flashlights. Cell phone charged. Manual can opener on hand to open canned soups.
Someone protested. “What’s that? I’m not budging! Too many times the weather service has cried ‘Wolf’ and nothing happened. Why go to all that trouble?” Well, yes, it’s true that sometimes a storm doesn’t arrive as predicted. Sometimes it comes, but it’s not nearly as severe as forecast. After all, the weather service is made up of human beings. They are not God, and they can’t control the weather, but they do the best they can to read the weather conditions and anticipate which way a storm might turn. So I listened carefully to the warnings, and did whatever I could to prepare.
As you know, Hurricane Helene did arrive with a wallop, full of fury and chaos. Unimaginable destruction occurred in the mountains above us with severe loss of life. How much worse it would have been had we not been warned, and heeded the warning. Downed trees blocked both ends of my street. Power lines were down with mangled telephone poles. My dear children walked in to rescue me and my little dachshund and kept us safe for the week until power was restored at my home. Then my children restocked my refrigerator and pantry. Life is almost back to normal for me. My only real loss is that I still have no internet. I missed the deadline for this devotional, the first time I’ve missed it in 20 years! That’s nothing compared to the loss of life and the suffering of hundreds in the mountains above us.
Sitting in the dark, thinking about all this, I am comforted to remember that God is still God. He is still in control. Was Helene God’s judgment on us? Yes, of course. We Americans have rejected God’s authority and gone our own wicked way too long. Helene vividly reminded us that God must judge sin and punish it. But certainly, He had not rewarded us as we deserved. Psalm 103:10,11 says,
God has not punished us for all our sins,
nor does He deal with us as we deserve.
For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
Pondering all this, as I sat in the dark, worrying about Helene, I remembered Second Peter 3:9-11 (NLT). When Jesus went to Heaven after His crucifixion, He promised to come back again as King of Kings to redeem us. But that was 2,000 years ago, and He hasn’t returned. Why not? Simply because God so earnestly yearns for everyone to come to Him for forgiveness, He postpones His judgment as long as He possibly can. Second Peter 3:9 says,
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness,
but is longsuffering toward us,
Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Wonderful stories of miraculous rescues from the storm have comforted us. A remarkable sense of community has brought us strangers together, many ignoring their own losses to care for others in desperate need. In the enforced idleness of these two weeks I have gotten to know my precious children in new and significant depths. And my relationship with my heavenly Father has been deepened immeasurably as I have prayed and waited for answers. How gracious God has been, revealing His deep love and compassion even in His power and holiness. Indeed, Hurricane Helene was a storm of incredible impact we’ll not quickly forget, God willing.