Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“Seeking Shelter”
“If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no gave heed when I stretched out my hand...when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and troubles overwhelm you." – Proverbs 1:23-24; 27

It will not be long until we will enter the time of year in which strong and powerful storms could be coming our way…which really puts this verse into perspective. It is the reminder that each day presents opportunity for “troubles” to arrive or for disaster to strike. If we do not pay heed to what is right and wise and good...these things (calamity, disaster and troubles) will fall on us like a ton of bricks!! And according to this statement, it will be fast, it will be complete and "overwhelming." This means that those things that overtake us will consume our every thought and action.
It was the summer of 1993. We lived in Northeastern Missouri, just a few miles from the mighty Mississippi River which separated us from the state of Illinois. We discovered that year first hand how mighty that river can be. We witnessed its devastating, destructive power. We saw an entire town completely consumed by the water. Houses and cars washed hundreds of miles downstream. The flood was so widespread that the only open bridges into Illinois were nearly one hundred miles north in Iowa and eighty miles south in St. Louis.
For practically my entire life I have lived in areas where tornadoes have touched down relatively close to me. The tornado that came through McAlester, Oklahoma (where I currently live) in May of 2008 was the first I have personally witnessed. However, I was in Wichita Falls, Texas a week after a third of it was hit by a massive tornado in 1978. It was not all that long ago that a massive tornado swept through the Oklahoma City area.
My sister, her two daughters and their children (and their dogs) spent three weeks with us after Hurricane Rita due to the fact their entire county was without electricity and my brother-in-law was trying to clean up fallen trees. We’ve driven in snowstorms, waited out ice storms and endured heat waves. Each of these is reminders that our physical beings are quite often subject to some powerful and deadly forces.
The difference between the forces of nature and the calamities, disasters and troubles that this verse is describing is the latter are spiritual in nature. And though we have no control over nature we can avoid the others and it is only by heeding God’s wisdom!
Spiritual disasters are those that seek to overwhelm us with winds of pain. Not just physical pain, although it does occur—but pain that reaches into the soul through disappointments. Disappointments can truly get us down and then we are “flooded” with emotions that often betray us.
You cannot stop a tornado but you can find shelter. You cannot stop a flood but you can look for higher ground. You cannot prevent the devil from casting temptation our way – but we can find shelter and strength. Martin Luther is quoted saying: “You cannot prevent birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” What we can do is say…”Lord, help me to not be consumed by the ‘storms’ of spiritual destruction. Help me to seek wisdom from on high when the winds blow, when the ‘heat is on,’ when I am blinded by snow or if I am being pelted with ice and hail! Please be my Shelter in the time of Storm!
Pastor J. T. Carnell.