Natural disasters
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Poll 4: Did you know: After losing his 4 daughters in a tragic shipwreck, Horatio Spafford wrote the Hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” He wrote the lyrics while on another ship passing over the site of their deaths…
Last week we talked about heaven and the hope of heaven… and how we should seek to live with the hope of heaven ever before us…
Next week… already have the outline done because I hadn’t decided to do this weeks study until Sunday night…
So next week we will go through Matthew chapter 20 verses 17-20 where Jesus predicts His suffering, death, and resurrection for the third time…
I feel that the heart of the question from last week about suffering and the floods is threaded through next weeks study…
We will have a thread of scars… and how Jesus takes His scars into heaven with Him…
What that means for us… and how we should use our scars… [pause]
For this week…
After much prayer… and to be completely honest…
I wrestled quite a bit trying to not do tonight’s study…
But I feel the Holy Spirit leading me to go over this… [pause]
I’m not sure where that’s coming from… but at the end of the day…
Our Bible studies need to be Spirit led…
We do not want and are not interested in stuff that is from man.. that is only academic…
Academic and diving deep- that’s great…
That’s absolutely great….
We just need to allow the Holy Spirit to also lead that… [pause]
Pastor Tim Dilena this week… on Sunday…
He’s the Pastor at Times Square Church in New York City… which is a great church by the way… and Siren’s church… [pause]
He said in his sermon this week… at the beginning… as he explained he had another sermon prepared but then felt led not to go with it… [pause]
Pastor Tim said I would rather be up here with a blank piece of paper and being led by the Holy Spirit… then to be up here with pages and pages of my preparation that was done apart from the Holy Spirit… [pause]
He’s right on…
That’s for each of us… not just pastors… but every time we open our Bibles we should be praying and asking for His guidance… [pause] [pause] [pause]
This week we are going to go back and address a question that came in from Lessli…
The question was this….
I was wondering if you could help me
(and maybe others in the group)
make sense of the tragedy in Texas
when so many innocent children are killed.
I trust the Lord with all my heart
but I wonder
if this was the devil's work or something else. [pause]
I gave a quick 5 minute opinion last week…
And basically said in terms of where does the natural disaster come from…
I see it as one of three things…
Number One it could be random chance… being in the wrong place at the wrong time…
And we have Biblical support for that with the Tower of Siloam… and how Jesus explained that the people who died in that tragedy were just in the wrong place at the wrong time…
But it wasn’t because they were worse sinners than anyone else..
Number Two it could be Satan attacking people… [pause]
Number Three… it could be the judgement of God… [pause]
Now- I don’t believe in a situation of a natural disaster we will ever know.. unless we are here for the natural disasters that happen in the tribulation… [pause]
Which I think we would be raptured out of here before the tribulation anyways…
But that would be the time… ok the 3rd Temple is built…
antichrist is reigning…
these natural disasters are judgements from God… [pause]
Outside of the tribulation period… I don’t know how anyone could determine or discern the source of a natural disasters…
And in this case… I would lean towards this was just something that happened like the tower of Siloam…
Or possibly an attack from Satan… the enemy… [pause]
I don’t personally believe this was a judgment from God… [pause] [pause] [pause]
We do know there is a spiritual war…. And that this could be an attack from the enemy… [pause]
With a natural disaster it’s a little harder to discern…
When Israel is attacked on October 7… it’s pretty clear that was the enemy… that was the hamas spirit
The same spirit of hate towards God’s chosen ancient people that we read about in Esther with Haman…
The same spirit that fueled Nazi Germany…
That word Hamas that is in Genesis 6 describing the violence in the world before the flood… [pause]
That’s a little easier to discern it’s from Satan… [pause]
Natural disasters… in my opinion… are very difficult to discern if it’s coming from Satan… [pause]
That said- we have a few examples in Scripture of this happening…
In Job… and we’ll read beginning in verse 18 of the first chapter of the book of Job…
Previous to verse 18 God allows Satan to inflict Job…
So the context here is that the cause behind this wind is actually Satan… [pause]
Job 1:18-19
18While he was yet speaking, there came another and said,
“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
19and behold,
a great wind
so this is a natural disaster… this great wind… [pause]
we don’t know for sure if it was just a sheet of wind… it may have been a tornadoe…
but whatever form the wind took…
Wind can be a natural disaster and in the case of Job- this wind is exactly that… [pause]
a great came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young people,
and they are dead,
and I alone have escaped to tell you.” [pause]
So from Job we can see that Satan… at times… can create a natural disaster…
? could this be the case with the Texas flood? [pause]
I think it’s a possibility…
But we probably would never have enough information on this side of heaven to know… [pause]
Remember with Job- he had no idea why this stuff was happening to him…
He had no idea that God had allowed Satan to test him… [pause]
Ok- so to the third type of possibility… and that is random [pause]
Ecclesiastes chapter 9… verse 11…
11Again I saw that under the sun
Under the sun is just a phrase in Ecclesiastes that mean on the earth…
Stuff that happens on the earth… [pause]
Some of you guys were on our study when we went through this book- it’s found 69 times in Ecclesiastes…
Ok… so the writer.. many believe Solomon…
He writes.. on this earth… under the sun…
the race is not to the swift,
what that means is the fastest person does not always win the race [pause]
nor the battle to the strong,
the best army doesn’t always win [pause]
nor bread to the wise,
the wise person isn’t necessarily materially blessed… [pause]
nor riches to the intelligent,
sometimes the dumb guy gets wealthy and the smart guy is poor [pause]
nor favor to those with knowledge,
being knowledgeable doesn’t mean you’re going to find favor…
you might bring a report to your boss and have all the knowledge on it,
your boss might go “thanks…” and then listen to the other guy who knows nothing
just shooting from the hip…
that’s what that means… [pause]
? So why is this?
Because this sounds opposite to what we would think…
? why? [pause]
but time and chance happen to them all. [pause]
Solomon is saying there is an element of time and chance…
There is an element of randomness that is built into life here on earth [pause]
Verse 12…
12For man does not know his time.
He’s saying you don’t know when your going to die… [pause]
Like fish that are taken in an evil net,
and like birds that are caught in a snare, [pause]
so the children of man are snared at an evil time,
when it suddenly falls upon them. [pause]
Solomon is saying you don’t know when you will die
And often it comes completely unexpectedly… [pause]
Jesus affirms this teaching from Ecclesiastes in Luke 13…
Now I want to pause for one second for a teaching point…
For when we read our Bibles on our own… [pause]
A lot of times there will be a main point to a passage… and then there are secondary points… [pause]
As you read your Bible, one thing to try to make observations about is if a word or phrase or sentence is repeated…
With that in mind… I’ll read this passage
We’ll explain the main point…
And I’ll show you one of the secondary points that is actually what I’m getting at for our study…
Luke 13:1-5
1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Ok- so this is a violent and evil act…
By Pilate…
Done to people from Galilee…
2And he answered them,
“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?
3No, I tell you;
but unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish. [pause]
4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them:
This is more like a natural disaster…
Now it’s a structural disaster, we don’t know if this was caused by earthquake or wind…
But the point is… it was not intentionally caused by a human…
So in that way… this is like a natural disaster… [pause]
do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
Notice verse 5 is the same as verse 3…
This is the main point…
5No, I tell you;
but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [pause]
The main point is this…
There are bad things that happened to people…
These people weren’t any worse than you…
You’re going to die one day… and you don’t know when…
It could be at anytime…
You need to repent… [pause]
Ok so that’s what this passage is about…
Jesus uses the randomness of Pilate’s violence and the randomness of the tower of Siloam falling….
He uses that randomness to essentially say
“hey guys-
These things didn’t happen because they were super sinners… or they were worse people than you…
It was random…
And from your perspective… under the sun…
Your death is also going to be completely random…
While God has your days numbered… He hasn’t told you what that number is…
So your death is likely to come upon you just like Pilate’s violence or the tower falling… [pause]
So… repent now…
Get right with God now…
Because you have no idea if you are going to live to see tomorrow… [pause] [pause] [pause]
That’s actually something that we all should remember when these tragic events happen…
Is that we really have little control over if we will have another day… [pause]
And if you think… well I can buy a house on top of a hill and lock myself in a room…
? Who controls the beating of your heart? [pause]
God… right…
It doesn’t matter how safe of a place you’re in in terms of environment… God can stop your heart in an instant… [pause]
Ok… so that’s the main point… and it does relate a bit to what we’re talking about…
And the secondary point really drives home these truths…
The secondary point is about the randomness of it…
Jesus used this secondary point to make His main point..
The randomness of the tower falling… [pause]
The “so what” for us tonight…
It’s this… and one so what actually is what I had just said off of the main point… [pause]
But in terms of the Texas flood and any natural disaster…
The “so what” is that we should not think the people who suffered… that it’s a result of something they did bad…
Or that it’s a judgment on them… [pause]
Jesus is teaching us that… [pause] [pause] [pause]
With all of that as introduction…
When the question came up last week… that’s all I hit on…
And I completely missed the personal part of all of this…
That individual suffering part of the question… [pause]
I apologize for not addressing that last week… but this is going to be our focus for the rest of tonight…
Let’s say a quick prayer… and then we’ll jump in… [pause]
PRAY-
During our study last week I mentioned about how just like a bee looses it’s stinger…
death has lost it’s sting… [pause]
1 Corinthians chapter 15… verse 54
54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass
the saying that is written: [pause]
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” [pause]
55“O death, [pause] where is your victory? [pause]
O death, [pause] where is your sting?” [pause]
Put on screen picture of yard…
Last Saturday… cutting the grass…
I got attacked by yellow jackets…
Stung in the ankles and back and arm… [pause]
The picture on the screen is google street view of my house and the neighbors house… and in the google street view you can see me cutting the grass
So that’s a good idea of what’s going on…
The left side there is a red arrow-
That’s my neighbors yard and I ran over a yellow jacket nest right there…
Bam- the stings come… they are sudden and unexpected…
That’s exactly how tragedy can be… sudden and unexpected [pause]
I take off running all the way to the right side of the screen where the red circle is…
Behind those trees is a strip of grass and that’s in front of our house…
Those Yellow jackets chased me the whole way…
I then came down the side… which isn’t on the picture and came out to the bottom street area….
Those bees chased after and followed me…
That’s exactly how the pain from a tragedy can be… it will follow you around… and chase you down [pause]
After being sufficiently away from the bees I realize I have this constant pain on my ankle… and I look down and a yellow jack got into my sock and has his stinger loged into my skin the entire time…
Once I got that bee off of me- then the constant pain stopped…
That reminded me of what we had just talked about last week and this verse we just read… [pause]
Now I left that lawn mower… went into the back yard and grabbed another lawn mower and finished cutting our back yard area…
We have a couple lawn mowers because I gave one to our neighbor, when he moved out about two years ago he gave me the lawn mower back… he didn’t need it anymore… [pause]
So the whole time I’m cutting the back yard…
Every so often… I could feel the stings…
This unexpected pain comes back… surges back for these brief intervals… at unexpected moments…
That’s exactly how it can be after going through a personal tragedy…
That pain can surge back in… and it can come at unexpected moments [pause]
I wound up running out of gas with the lawn mower in the back…
So I come back to the front yard…
I’m standing by that sign…
That’s our sign that says “Jesus loves you, John 3:16”
So everyone on my street should at least understand the concept that there is a possibility that Jesus is real… and He loves them… and there is something called John 3:16
Anyways…
I’m standing there… and my next door neighbor- he’s in his yard and I tell him- “hey- if you feel a sting, it’s these yellow jackets- sorry about that”
And I can see them from that sign hovering around the lawn mower… [pause]
Now I say to myself…
I’m a Marine… the back yard needs to be cut…
I can’t let these… little insects… intimidate me…
this is ridiculous… … [pause]
So… I take three or four steps forward and then I go “well… that whole kinda sermon deal where I could see all this practical application from these bee stings…
That I just kinda preached to myself in my head as I was cutting the back yard… … [pause]
You know I really don’t want to get stung again… but I have to get this lawn mower… [pause]
I also don’t know if this would be appropriate to go through this Wednesday night… … [pause]
“Lord- if I grab this lawn mower and You keep the bees from stinging me I’ll go over this bee sting deal Wednesday night…
And if I get stung, then I’ll know we should just keep going on in Matthew 20… “
So I go get the lawn mower…
? Did I get stung? [pause]
One time I wish we were altogether in person so I could see who thought I got stung and who didn’t… [pause]
Well… we’re talking about yellow jackets…
so no…
I didn’t get stung… [pause]
The last part of the story is that I am mildly allergic to yellow jackets…
So I’ve run over them three or four times in the past few years…
I have to go to the doctor within about a day to get some medication… otherwise the places I got stung will swell up… [pause]
Just as I need to go to the doctor for healing of bee stings…
We need to take out pain to Our Great Physician… our Lord Jesus Christ
Flip off of picture
So bringing this back to the Bible…
Death has lost it’s sting… yes
Absolutely it has lost it’s sting… … [pause]
for the one who dies- it’s completely gone…
death has lost it’s sting and like we talked about last week…
you are immediately taken to be with our Lord in paradise…
There is no more sorrow or suffering or pain anymore … [pause]
That’s true for the one who died… [pause]
But…
For the loved one who is left here… [pause]
It stings…
And it can sting really hard… [pause]
I want to be sensitive not to compare something funny like bee stings to something serious like mourning…
But from that funny experience of being chased around by a bunch of bees this weekend… I do think I was able to pull out some bullet points and then to dive into those Biblically… [pause]
As I was cutting the back yard… this is what I was thinking about…
I believe receiving from the Lord… but I didn’t hear a booming voice from heaven speaking to me…
It was just my thoughts being led…
And by the time I had to go get the other lawn mower… I felt like I had heard a whole outline or sermon in my head…
Four Points on Personal Tragedy:
1. Tragedy can be sudden and unexpected
2. Pain from a tragedy will follow you around and chase you down
3. That pain can surge back in at unexpected times
4. We need to come to Jesus for healing and give our pain to Him [pause]
Again… #1… 1. Tragedy can be sudden and unexpected…
This is exactly what happens to Job… and he has no reason and no way to understand why his life just began to fall apart…
It is nothing that he has done….
He has not done anything wrong at all…
Job chapter 2 and verse 3
3And the Lord said to Satan,
“Have you considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him on the earth,
a blameless and upright man,
who fears God
and turns away from evil?
He still…. holds fast…. his integrity,
although you incited me against him
to destroy him
without reason. [pause]
Those last two words… the whole thing right…
But if you missed the main point of it… the last 2 words make it explicitly clear… without reason…. [pause]
There’s nothing that Job has done to deserve what happened to him
One of the things that will happen to you when trouble comes
when you lose a job… lose a child… get cancer… whatever it is…
one of the first things you might say is,
? What did I do wrong? [pause]
Well, maybe you did do something wrong… [pause]
but it is very possible…. that you have done absolutely nothing wrong…. [pause]
For Job… he has done nothing wrong… this came upon him without reason…
Chapter 1 of Job is what God is referencing here…
And in that chapter Job lost his money and wealth…
He lost his family…
Chapter 2… He lost his health…
Job loses his reputation…
And later in chapter 19 Job loses his friends… [pause]
13“He has put my brothers far from me,
and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14My relatives have failed me,
my close friends have forgotten me. [pause]
Job lost all this… and from his perspective…
It came out of no where… unexpectedly…
And he didn’t do anything to deserve it…
? So what do we do with that if we find ourselves in a spot like Job? [pause]
20Then Job arose and tore his robe
and shaved his head
and fell on the ground [pause] and worshiped. [pause]
21And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; [pause]
Blessed [pause] be the name of the Lord.”
? what do you do when unexpected tragedy comes?
And it’s sudden and out of nowhere… [pause]
You praise [pause]
Just praise God by faith [pause]
You don’t have to know why
You don’t have to understand [pause]
You just simply say, “God, I praise you.” [pause]
I don’t say that easily… because look…
This is going to be the hardest thing you can possibly do… in the immediate aftermath of losing a close family… to then Praise God…
But Job gives us the example…
And I believe most…
In order to get back to a place where they can Praise God after losing a family member…
I think most people first need to come to Jesus for healing…
#4 on the list…
I believe in order to do what Job did…
We have to come to Jesus and just lay our hearts before Him openly and honestly and tell Him exactly how we feel…
And we need to trust Him… that He understand how we feel
Psalm 62 8Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him; [pause]
God is a refuge for us. [pause]
Our Lord Jesus will heal us… it might take some time…
But He is our healer…
Number 1… Tragedy can be sudden and unexpected [pause]
2. Pain from a tragedy will follow you around and chase you down…
1 Samuel starts off with a story about Hannah and her tragedy is not being able to have a child…
And she has the pain from this tragedy chase her down… but in this short section we see not only that pain following her around…
But she shows us what to do with that pain…
1 Samuel 1:6-18
6And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
That word grievously is telling us this provoking not only irrirtated her… but it grieved her heart… it caused her deep sadness of heart…
Her heart was broken over this… [pause]
7So it went on year by year.
This olloed her around… chased her down…
As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.
She was so saddened she couldn’t eat… [pause]
You’ve probably had a couple moments in life like that… where you lost someone so close to you…
That you loved so much…
That you couldn’t even eat food for the time…
You just cryed… [pause]
That’s Hannah here… she is completely broken over this pain [pause]
Verse 10…
She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. [pause]
The pain is still chasing her down… deeply distressed…
And wept bitterly… [pause]
It’s not going away…
There seems to be no end in sight… this pain is following her [pause]
Verse 11 11And she vowed a vow and said,
“O Lord of hosts,
if you will indeed look on the affliction
She was afflicted… she was beaten up over this pain…
And can’t we feel like that as we walk through pain… just like we got out of a fight and got the stuff kicked out of us…
She was afflicted… [pause] the affliction
if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and
remember me and not forget your servant, [pause]
? do you see me God?
? Would you look upon… would you look upon my affliction? [pause]
? Lord would you remember me? [pause]
Hannah goes on crying out to the Lord…
but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” [pause]
12As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.
13Hannah was speaking in her heart;
only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. [pause]
This is those times where your in such pain the words aren’t coming out… you can’t speak… [pause]
You guys all know what that’s like…
Where you are so torn- you have thought…
But the words can’t come out of the mouth… [pause]
Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.
14And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” [pause]
15But Hannah answered,
“No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit.
I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink,
but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. [pause]
16Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman,
for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” [pause]
this pain of her personal tragedy… it’s caused anxiety…
it’s caused vexation… that means stress… worry… [pause]
17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”
18And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.”
Then the woman went her way and ate,
and her face was no longer sad. [pause] [pause] [pause]
She was in deep anguish and pain…
it weighed… heavy… on her heart….
Through her pain, she prayed
She poured out her soul before the Lord…
The Lord comforted her and we read her face was no longer sad… [pause]
Number 1. Tragedy can be sudden and unexpected
Number 2. Pain from a tragedy will follow you around and chase you down
Number 3. That pain can surge back in at unexpected times [pause]
In John chapter 11 we read about the death of Lazarus… and then how Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead…
In verse 14… Jesus tells the disciples Lazarus has died…
Now when Jesus says this He knows He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead… [pause]
You think about it… and you think well Jesus shouldn’t get too emotional…
The expectation is go to the tomb and raise Lazarus…
But.. ? what happens?
Verse 33… before getting to the tomb…
Unexpected pain surges in
33When Jesus saw her weeping,
and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, [pause]
he was deeply moved in his spirit
and greatly troubled. [pause]
Deep pain and anguish surges into His Spirit… and Jesus is deeply moved… and greatly troubled..
34And he said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” [pause]
And here comes another surge of pain and sorrow… [pause]
35Jesus wept. [pause]
Our Lord went through this deep pain…
So ? what’s that tell us? [pause]
When those sharp pains come back… and that sorrow hits us in the face….
For the parents in Texas…
Right now it’s dinner time… and there’s an empty chair at their table [pause]
When it’s bath time comes for tonight… and the pain smacks them hard in a fresh way [pause]
When bed time comes and goes… and there is no precious daughter to tuck in… [pause]
When those sharp pains come…. And they are weeping over their loss…
We know Jesus understands exactly how they feel…
He wept too…
He was deeply sorrowful… [pause]
It’s happening tonight…
That pain is going to come back at the next birthday… and back to school
Christmas and Easter… [pause]
The pain is going to follow these parents the rest of their lives… and sometimes it will be those markers… [pause]
Other times it will just be completely unexpected…
Being at a store and seeing their favorite candy…
Driving by a street and a memory of their daughter comes into their minds… [pause]
When they are broken… Jesus knows how they feel…
He will enter their pain and sorrow… [pause]
Play Why God? 11:06-14:42
Poll Results
Number 1. Tragedy can be sudden and unexpected
Number 2. Pain from a tragedy will follow you around and chase you down
Number 3. That pain can surge back in at unexpected times
Number 4. We need to come to Jesus for healing and give our pain to Him
We’ve thread #4 into the different sections tonight already…
This is what we need to do when pain hits us…
Because we know Jesus cares about us…
In John 11…
Jesus weeping- it’s showing us that He enters into our pain and suffering with us…
He cares deeply about us… [pause]
He cares deeply… for us… [pause]
Jesus doesn’t watch from a distance… He enters into and share in our sorrow… [pause] [pause] [pause]
Like Pastor Gary said… when someone first comes up to you and is crying and in deep pain…
Just be present and love them and hug them and weep and pray with them…
That wouldn’t be the time to just recite a verse… [pause]or to repeat a cliché saying…
But… this is a good passage to have stored up in our hearts…
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies
and God of all comfort,
4who comforts us in all our affliction,
so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings,
so through Christ
we share abundantly in comfort too. [pause]
The passage doesn’t say you won’t suffer…
No… it actually says you’ll share in Christ’s sufferings… [pause]
Remember He was in such anguish he sweat great drops of blood at Gethesemane…
So we will have pain… and we will have to face it…
But this passage tells us we will also share abundantly in His comfort… [pause]
Joni Earkeson Tada was paralyzed from shoulders down at the age of 17 after a diving accident [pause]
She said this about pain… [pause]
“When I'm in pain,
which is often, [pause]
especially at night in bed when I can't sleep … [pause]
I talk to my pain and I say,
‘You're not going to make me anxious, pain. [pause]
You're not going to make me fearful. [pause]
I'm going to walk into you. [pause]
I'm going to breathe, calmly, serenely. [pause]
I'm going to enter you, pain… as though I were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego entering the fiery furnace,
and I'm going to find Jesus, [pause] the Son of God, [pause] walking in the middle of the fire with me.’” [pause] [pause] [pause]
I want to close tonight by doing a quick fly-over of Psalm 46…
Now Friday I had been wrestling with whether to do tonight or to keep going in Matthew chapter 20…
In the Friday email I mentioned Psalm 46 and I was thinking to spend the entire night going through this Psalm [pause]
Then Saturday was the bee sting deal… and in the backyard as I was cutting the grass before I grabbed the lawn mower back from the bees…
That’s when I got those 4 points… came in and wrote them down on this sticky note show sticky note
I didn’t go want to go to far in drawing a parallel between the Saturday bee sting stuff and this stuff… because the bee stings was just a funny deal
But we’re talking about some deep pain tonight… [pause]
Sunday morning went to church and sat under Pastor Gary’s teaching… which I think touched everyone in the service… [pause]
And now- I still want to come all the way back to this Psalm because I do believe it’s a good Psalm for the moment…
A Psalm of comfort in any sufferings... but I think this one can especially speak to comfort in the aftermath of a natural disaster… [pause]
So this will just be a quick- but we really could have spent a whole night on this Psalm…
Verses 1 through 3 we see refuge found in the midst of chaos [pause]
Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. [pause]
2Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
You can picture earthquakes…
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
you can picture mud slides and cliffs falling into the sea- you guys have seen some of that in recent years in California… [pause]
3though its waters roar and foam,
You can picture floods and hurricanes and Tsunami’s
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
You can picture volcanic eruptions… [pause] [pause] [pause]
Ok so you get this picture of just chaos… chaos from these natural disasters…
And in the midst of any of them… God is your strength and refuge…
And the Psalm transitions in verse 4
We see a restoration of peace…
The scene is chaotic and full of natural disasters… and it moves to a heavenly scene of peace
You have natural chaos verses 1 through 3… that’s contrasted against the peaceful river of God’s presence… in the city of God
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High. [pause]
5God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
God’s… sustaining… presence… brings… hope…
I’ll repeat that…
? what does 4 through 7 speak to us?
God’s sustaining presence… brings… hope… [pause]
The Psalm closes encouraging us to respond with faith and worship and love… verse 8
8Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth. [pause]
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire. [pause]
10“Be still, [pause] and know that I am God. [pause]
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” [pause]
11The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. [pause]
be still and recognize God’s sovereignty…
Ultimately… these floods in Texas took everyone here on earth by surprise…
They were horrible and terrible…
Like Pastor Gary said… I don’t think anyone on this side of heaven will ever be able to have an answer to why they happened…
But we do know that God is good…
He is sovereign…
And as badly and deeply in pain so many people are in tonight… [pause]
That our Lord Jesus shares their pain…
He sits with them
He feels what they feel… [pause]
He feels what you feel…
When You are in deep pain and you feel incredible loss… [pause]
God is not distant… He is with you…
He understands the pain and sorrow you experience… [pause]
He cares for you [pause]
He weeps alongside you… [pause]
He is deeply moved…
He is with you…
And He will comfort you… [pause]
It’s still going to come back in waves and waves as life goes on… but we just keep coming back to Him… [pause]
We know he will never leave us nor forsake us and we know one day soon we will be with Him forever…
And all the pain will once and for all be removed… forever…
Questions, thoughts, comments
