Hope during a tsunami

The slow but certain flood of a tsunami moves across the globe today.  

I’ve watched videos from the one that marked our lives in 2004. The wave that advanced silently. Powerfully. Into Aceh. The water just kept coming. Pushing further inland. One bright, blue-skied day. 

And then, as waves do, it pulled back out to sea. Leaving devastation. Empty communities. Unimaginable loss. 

Today. The other tsunami. Changing the topic of our daily conversations. To quarantines and lockdowns. Limiting spread to flatten the curve. Shortages of medical supplies. Death counts.

And I remember the Scripture verses that gave hope to the inexperienced. In the December 2004 tsunami and the year that followed.

Crisis mode

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, our team in Indonesia was thrown into crisis mode. 24/7.  And there were no instruction booklets for a natural disaster of this size. In an area of the country cut off from foreign aid and involvement. 

Once the door opened for aid to go in, there was no infrastructure on the ground to handle the many relief workers that were already on their way to help.  Phone calls and emails and meetings and trips in were nonstop. 

Inadequate and inexperienced

Many trying to aid the suffering felt overwhelmed. Inadequate. Inexperienced.

Day after day, the prayer requests were desperate. Pleading for wisdom. For help. For strength in the midst of exhaustion. For discernment in a sea of unknowns.

People in Aceh were in shock. Fearful. Hardly knowing where to start in their grief. 

Cry out to the Lord

Reading along one morning in Psalm 116, I noted the psalmist’s account of God’s deliverance from a dire situation. The “ropes of death” were wrapped around him. He had encountered “trouble and sorrow.”

I came to verse 4. 

“Then I called on the name of the Lord:
‘Lord, save me!”

We are desperate for You, I thought.  Lord, we cry out to You. We need You.

Asking why

Verse 5 was next. Reminding me:

“The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is compassionate.”

Yes, He is. These truths comforted me. 

But I thought about the multitudes of people who were deeply hurting. We were hearing them ask, “Why did God let this happen to us?” 

Struggle

It’s hard enough when you are a follower of Christ going through such loss. We ask questions too.

But they didn’t know the God of love and compassion, who walks with us through crisis and heartache.  The One who never leaves us or forsakes us. 

“Lord, we long for them to know You!”

As these thoughts ebbed and flowed through my mind, I struggled with the magnitude of the task. The weight of so many deaths.

And felt a weariness of soul.

Hope

Then came verse 6. Stopping me in my tracks. 

And at that moment I knew. He had His eye on us and on the situation.

“The Lord guards the inexperienced;
I was helpless, and He saved me.”

Some translations say, “The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me.”

But the Lord knew I needed a particular word that day. Inexperienced.  

“We have no experience in handling something like this. A disaster of this scale has never happened before.” How many times had I said that? How many times had I heard it on the news?  And from the lips of people around us?

He addressed the inexperienced me with hope. And in the months ahead He gave wisdom that sustained and informed us in the unknown.

Today’s tsunami

Today. No one knows for certain how long this particular tsunami will last. How far it will go. What will be left when it’s over.

But He knows. He sees. 

We cry out to Him. And our gracious, righteous, compassionate Lord hears our cry. Sees our helplessness. 

And He will guard us in our inexperience. Give us wisdom for the way ahead.

He is our hope. And the only hope for this world.

“I love the Lord because He has heard
my appeal for mercy.
Because He has turned His ear to me,
I will call out to Him as long as I live.”
Psalm 116:1-2

What about you?

Are you struggling in these days of COVID-19? Are you crying out to Him? How is the Lord meeting you in this time of crisis? Have you had opportunities to share the reason for the hope you have within you?

Related posts and references

Heart cry –  Riptide – The mystery of the gospel – Living in the unprecedented – Storm – The other pandemic – Walking, we wait – When I am afraid I will trust in You – Living hope – Job and the Hope of Easter – Surrender and worship – Healing hurts and counting stars – Enter the narrow door – Hebrews 13:5 – Deuteronomy 31:6 – Psalm 116 –