5/15/24

I have new neighbors! They’re  foreigners (well, they’re from the West Coast). 

Last week they were initiated into Alabama culture by experiencing their first tornado warning. I’ve explained to them that, historically, the tornadoes in our area have followed the same paths, and that, historically, the storm paths go south of us or go north of us.

That wasn’t much comfort when I heard channel 48’s Brad Travis say that a tornado was headed for my neighborhood. It did toggle south, following a usual route, but I found myself somewhat unnerved as I huddled in one of my linen closets.

But everywhere you live has something.

When I moved to central Indiana for grad school, I was told “Indiana doesn’t have a climate, just a collection of nasty weather” and “ if you don’t like the weather in Indiana, just wait 15 minutes. It’ll change.” That proved to be true! High humidity . . . tornadoes . . . ice storms . . . kinda sounds like here!

My West Coast neighbors exchanged earthquakes for tornadoes. Everywhere you live has something. 

But whether it’s a week long ice storm in Indiana, an earthquake in Los Angeles, a hurricane in Florida, or a tornado in North Alabama, the same God is present with us wherever and whatever the threat may be.

One of my favorite Old Testament stories comes from I Kings 20. After being defeated by the Israelites in the northern mountainous areas of Israel (today’s Golan Heights), the Arameans (some translations will say Syrians. It’s modern Lebanon) decided they would attack Israel again, but in a different location and with some theological strategy: “Their gods are gods of the hills, so they were stronger than we, but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.”

King Ben-Hadad led a multitude of Aramean warriors against Israel on the plains southeast of the Sea of Galilee. According to I Kings 20:27, the Israelite army was “like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the country.”

As was often the case, the Israelites were far outnumbered by the enemy, and their defeat seemed certain. Plus, if the Arameans were right about Israel’s God being God of the hills only, the plains gave the Arameans an added advantage. 

Their victory seemed certain! 

However, a “man of God” came to the to the king of Israel and assured him, “Thus says the Lord: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 

The battle ended almost as soon as it began! In one day, 100,000 Arabians were killed, those who survived fled to a city in which 27,000 more were killed when the city’s walls collapsed.

Yes, Israel’s God was the god of the hills. He is also God of the valleys. And the plains.  And the seas. And the deserts. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it,” Psalm 24 assures us, “for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.”

Wherever we find ourselves, and in whatever situation we find ourselves, we can always trust God.

C. W. Naylor was a songwriter and author who lived most of his life bedridden, crippled with pain. Yet despite his hardships, he wrote wonderful books of comfort like The Secret of the Singing Heart and songs of encouragement like Because He Loves Me.  I grew up singing  Because He Loves Me and it has helped me through a variety of storms – physical, meteorological, spiritual, emotional . . . whatever has come my way, I have confidence I can trust God’s love:

When the storm winds rage, and the rain falls fast,
And the clouds hang low above,
I shall be secure till the storm is past,
For I trust my Savior’s love;
And He knows the way, and He holds my hand,
And He will not let it go;
He will lead me home to that better land,
Just because He loves me so.

I will trust His love, for it e’er will last,
It is rich and warm and free;
Through the years of life it will hold me fast,
And my help and comfort be;
To my waiting heart all its treasures rare
As a sparkling stream shall flow;
In the joy of God I shall ever share,
Just because He loves me so

“I will trust his love.” You can’t get much simpler than that. 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry