I don’t know about you but natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, tornadoes give me a heightened awareness of how helpless we are as humans.
This past weekend we had serious flooding in our area creating an emergency disaster situation for many. The incessant rain and thunder stirred all those feelings of vulnerability, fear and powerlessness. These normal feelings cause us to reach out to a power great than ourselves and for me the turbulence caused me to turn to God.
During moments of fear, I remembered the words of David, “When I’m afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3. Several times when I asked the Lord to help me with my feelings of fear, He reminded me of one of my favorite verses,
“Fear not, there is nothing to fear, for I am with you;
do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you;
yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My victorious right hand of rightness and justice.” Isaiah 41:10 (AMPC)
Another strategy is to put my confidence in the Lord.
“Be not afraid of sudden terror and panic, nor of the stormy blast or the storm and ruin of the wicked when it comes for you will be guiltless,
For the Lord shall be your confidence, firm and strong, and shall keep your foot from being caught in a trap or some hidden danger.” Proverbs 3:25, 26 (AMPC)
Additionally, I pray Psalm 91 for the protection of the Most High God over myself, my family and my community. I remind myself that Jesus is the Highest Ruler with authority
over every other power. Colossians 2:10
I am grateful for the many verses from the Bible I have memorized because they came to mind to comfort and calm me in the storm.
I don’t understand why these disasters happen. I heard God say He is not punishing anyone so I put it in my “I don’t understand box.”
I know this.
God is for us in these storms and understands our angst and will never leave us or forsake us or fail to help us. Hebrews 13:5,6
When we know and focus on these truths, we can find an anchor for our souls until the storms pass and through the adversity, we grow stronger in our dependence on Him. As we depend on the Word of God, we can turn our disaster fears into a stronger faith in our God.
We go from strength to strength as our faith and trust grows.
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” II Thessalonians 1:3