What are we coming to?

The days are fleeting, and we are but dust

A disaster of horrific proportions has struck the tiny, impoverished island nation of Haiti - an earthquake with at least a 7.0-magnitude. Here in the US we have our stories surrounding an unusually long cold spell. We worry about the orange and strawberry crops in Florida. It is nice to have concerns as simple as these. But how do you cope with unimaginable and devastating news? How do you even begin to cope if you are in the middle of death and chaos? It seems that each natural disaster that strikes our earthly orb simply wishes to one-up the last one. And of all places to strike - Haiti. It seems ridiculously pointless to ask "Why?" I don't think that there is a "why". It just is.

I've been watching the news, trying to wrap my mind around this tragedy. It strikes me how my mind has a way of reverting to old memories in my brain and ripping them out to freshly lay them down before me, all of them grievous memories. I lived in Venezuela at a time when we experienced a 6.9 earthquake of our own. I was not at the epicenter of the quake when it struck, but I did see a collapsed commercial building and a three-story school, crushed down to one level, held up only by apparently sturdy desks. I witnessed rescue workers digging through rubble looking for bodies and hopefully, survivors. In our home a crack snaked it's way down one of our walls. Our belongings were thrown off the shelves by the shock waves. Still, our house stood strong. We were very fortunate.

Trying further to understand, I am briefly reminded of another tragedy I’ve lived through. Virginia Tech is all that needs to be said. So I take these two memories, with all the horror and sadness they opened my eyes to, and yet as I try to hold them up to what is happening in Haiti, they fall drastically short. They seem to disappear. My ability to measure the depth of this tragedy feels horribly inadequate. Listening to the stories that are even now just coming in, I have to fight to keep back the tears.

As I said to my friend, it is in times like these that I especially look forward to the restoration and peace that will one day come to this earth. When we are overwhelmed, it is a gracious blessing to rest on the solid rock who is Christ. I hope and pray that the Haitian people will lean on our heavenly Father. In a report from the Samaritan’s Purse about the situation the first night, I read this: “Thousands of people gathered in public squares late into the night, singing hymns and weeping.”

Oh for the day that all the saints will gather together, singing hymns but yet weeping for joy.

The Cleft of the Rock

When faced with confusion and trying circumstances, we could choose to direct our anger towards God and complain. But do we even have a right to do this? I'm reminded of the scene from Fiddler on the Roof when Russian soldiers raid and ransack the once happy wedding festivities of a young couple. Afterwards, the father, Reptevia, takes a loaf of bread and with both hands palm-up looks up to the sky and asks his God, over and over, "Why?"

There are times where God allows us be in a sort of free fall over dark waters. The issue is this, will we trust Him? Will we maintain our faith in His goodness and Lordship, saying in all circumstances, I must decrease so that He might increase? Though being at the end of ourselves can be painful and confusing, it is also a very good and safe place to be when we truly trust the Lord and His plans for us. It can be a place of growth and renewal if we but choose to keep our hearts vulnerable to the mysterious ways of the Holy Spirit.

Mere mortals that we are, we cannot even begin to grasp the high nature of God's thoughts. When we are at a crossroads or are met with the fray of a battle, it is tempting to think that God has let go of our lives and has forgotten to lead us by the quiet waters as He promised. But this is never the case. Rather, when turmoil ensues, He will gently place us in the cleft of the rock and cover us with his hand. He is our fierce protector.

I like this bit from A.W. Tozer's Faith: the Misunderstood Doctrine

True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God said it, and if the statement should contradict every one of the five senses and all the conclusions of logic as well, still the believer continues to believe. "Let God be true, but every man a liar," is the language of true faith. Heaven approves such faith because it rises above mere proofs and rests in the bosom of God.