Til the Storm Passes By

‘As we speak’ this part of the world is enduring the impact of Hurricane Hermine. 

To say it is an especially powerful storm would be a gross exaggeration, as its winds hover in the Category 1, well, category. To say it is an especially large and costly storm, well now, that certainly would not be an overstatement. For you see, while the leading northeast edge of the hurricane is even now brushing up against southern Georgia, the lower southeast periphery is dumping copious amounts of rain on central Florida. One remaining band of thunder bolts and ‘liquid sunshine’ has just ‘taken up residence’ above me, and bids me rethink continuing with my story; for fear my computer will join a host of other e-devices which have been rudely fried in what has been characterized as The Lightning Capitol of the World. 

I admit it. I spend a bit too much time on social media. And last night I noticed a photo someone posted of several cars up to their ‘ying yang’ in water, and the caption,

“My boss just asked if I was coming into work today.” Reminds me of an event from my own life a full four decades ago.

(Fast forward 20 minutes. As I prophesied, I had to disconnect my computer for a short season. But to return to my musing…)

We lived in Stafford County, Virginia, about thirty miles outside Alexandria, Virginia, where I worked as a Civil Service clerk in the Army Records Center, Corps of Engineers branch. During the night my ‘neck of the woods’ received eight inches of thick, wet snow; while Alexandria fared better with a few inches and the luxury of snowplows. As a result of the storm, the trailer park in which my family and I lived was snowed in, and there was no coming or going. About a half hour before I was scheduled to be on the job, I called Miss Elisabeth Brown,  my aging, bachelorette supervisor and made her aware I would not be coming in due to the snow. Well, needless to say she wasn’t impressed. When I was forced to call in again the next day, you would have thought I had threatened to drop a couple of nuclear weapons on Alexandria and nearby D.C. She was not, to put it mildly, a ‘happy camper.’

Speaking of social media, Facebook in particular, I just saw a post (photo and caption) reminiscent of so many others I have seen over the years, and which tend to ‘get on my last nerve’ due to what, it seems to me, is an ignorance of God’s promises, (or the lack thereof).

The picture represented some generic scene which might well be captured during the course of any storm. Trees blowing in the wind. Waves breaking upon a beach. A few shingles blowing off the tops of nearby houses. And the caption,

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2)

Of course, the implication of the caption was that not a hair on the readers’ heads would be tossed, not a bone in their bodies would be broken, and not a shingle on their homes would be lost.

And this is ‘the rub,’ I think.

Since for every scripture, there exists an equal and (seemingly) opposite scripture which tends to lead us in a different direction, and causes us to adopt a different persuasion.

For if we accepted a social media promise, such as the one previously cited, at face value, (as in Facebook) and adopted the notion that every child of God was perfectly safe and secure, no matter the storm or circumstance, we might just as well subtract every scripture dealing with the certainty of suffering, i.e., 

“My brothers don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1^st Peter 4:12)

And we might just as well hit the delete button on what I refer to as “the chapter of the martyrs.”

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy. (Hebrews 11:35-38)

My friends, none of us, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or Atheist is immune to suffering, and it is only according to Providence and the Lord’s good graces that we awake to the next sunrise.

To believe that we are somehow immune to disaster or the impact of life’s literal and proverbial storms is to ignore and countermand biblical (and personal) history. For it is God’s good purpose to succor and save us as He wills, and as His providential care provides; His having seen the end from the beginning before we were a twinkle. 

Ultimately, we are finite beings and scripture assures us that none of us knows what a day may bring. 

“This life and the lust thereof is passing away, but he who does the will of the Lord endureth forever.” (1^st John 2:17)

However, in parting I think it is important to affirm the most crucial thing which can possibly be affirmed. As children of the Most High nothing can happen to us but which must first gain the acquiescence of a living, loving God. And we can be sure that whether young or old, or in between that having transcended the momentariness of this sphere, they who have entrusted their care to a merciful Savior shall be ushered into another sphere; utterly safe, altogether more enduring, and which passes not away.


   By William McDonald, PhD. From (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 42. Copyright pending

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