The Oasis - January 15, 2020
Author: Rev.Dan Hollis
January 15, 2020
January 15, 2020
by Pastor Dan
The last several months at times feel like the world has been facing disaster after disaster without respite; some natural, some not. Today Australia burns, the Philippines face volcanic eruption, and Puerto Rico won’t stop shaking.
Natural disasters like this and the damage they wreak in people’s lives are often called “acts of God.” Things that no one could predict nor defend against—hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions—so often feel like a disinterested boot stepping through an anthill.
On weeks like this I can’t help but wonder about the God of creation, the One that made this world and the physical laws that govern it, the God of sea and storm and wind. On weeks like this I can’t find answers to the questions within myself about why God allows these tragedies, and the beauty I often find in chaos is so hard to see.
What I do know, what I feel in my bones, is that God cries with each of those suffering in Puerto Rico and Australia and the Philippines and all the places throughout this world struggling to hold fast or recover. God knows their pain because their pain is God’s pain. Each hurt, each loss, every ounce of fear is not suffered alone, and I know God yearns for their deliverance.
And so, in the face of this and all other tragedies the children of God undergo, may we be the instruments of God’s deliverance. May we find the strength within ourselves to rescue those sinking in the mire, and may we discover God’s steadfast love within ourselves and become salve for the wounds of the world. We see the heroes in Australia and elsewhere all over the news. We see people opening their homes or their high ground or their transportation; we see them giving freely of their food, water, and the works of their hands. We see people across the world giving blood, donating to relief organizations, and pushing to equip our human laws and institutions to respond to these crises. There are so many ways for we children of God to help each other. There are so many ways for God to answer prayer.
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me. Psalm 69:13-15
Pastor Dan’s song of the week: “Livin’ on a Prayer,” by Bon Jovi
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