Tuesday, October 1, 2024

           When we watch a terrible tragedy like Hurricane Helene unfold in places like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, we often find ourselves both speechless and heartbroken.  It is incredibly difficult to make sense of an awful experience where so many people lose so much.  Often, the losses seem, disproportionately, to hit those who had so little to start.  Inevitably, we ask questions like “why did this happen?”  “How could this happen?”  We feel these struggles and questions even more deeply when disasters strike places that are familiar to us—places where we have been or have friends and family. 
            Tragedies are not unique to today and our times.  The Bible has plenty of examples of loss, tragedy and suffering.  The cross stands as the supreme example of the only innocent and perfect man who ever lived suffering for the sins of the creation that He made.  The prophet Habakkuk spoke to the people of Judah who were facing trials and tragedy at the hands of the Babylonians.  Like many of us today, this ancient prophet had questions and plenty of them.  When you read his three chapters, the questions he posed and wrestled with sound like questions we would wrestle with today.  Near the end of his prophecy, we find these words, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
            We find four lessons that can help us as we mourn the losses we see today and seek answers to our questions.  First, we have to recognize that tragedies are a reality of life.  No one is forever immune.  We live in a fallen creation that has been stained completely and thoroughly by the Fall, sin and rebellion.  No quarter or corner of the creation has been spared—including nature.  Tragedies often emerge as a result of the fallen state of a creation that is groaning to be remade, redeemed and restored.  Second, we can always look to the Lord.  We can seek His grace and power to sustain us.  Grace is sufficient in times of tragedy.  Paul experienced God’s sufficient grace when he dealt with a painful thorn in the flesh that confounded him apart from God’s grace.
            Third, we can rejoice in the middle of a tragedy.  There is always a reason to rejoice.  There is always something to celebrate.  Even in times of dire calamity, Christ is there and we can celebrate.  Remember when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace in Babylon because they refused to worship anyone or anything other than the Lord (see Daniel 3)?  When the king looked into the furnace, he saw four men walking around.  The Lord was with these three men and preserved them from the flames.  And fourth, God gives us recovery from these tragedies and trials.  He is the One who leads us forward and to new heights.  We often see nothing more than the tragedy or trial before us. But…God sees the rest of the story.  For that reason, we can rejoice!  Have a great Tuesday! Remember the supplies we are collecting for Western North Carolina Hurricane Helene Relief through this coming Sunday, October 6th!  Bring your items to the church office!