When The Floods Come

This spring has been one of the wettest in the recorded history of Central Texas, where I live.  We have received over twice our average rainfall this spring, and, as a matter of fact, just Saturday at my house we had in only two hours more than the average rainfall for the entire month of May.  Although we are thankful that our lawns and trees are healthy and green, the lakes are now full, and our underground aquifers are thriving, getting this much rain in such a short period of time has caused devastating flooding.  The rivers are overflowing their banks causing catastrophic losses all over the state of Texas.  I read one news account that said this is the first time that all four of Texas’ largest four cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin) have all experienced flooding at the same time.

About 30 miles from where I live, the little town of Wimberley has been especially hard hit.  Several vacation homes were washed from their foundations by the rushing water of the Blanco River, and many, many more homes were flooded.  One of those homes was occupied by a total of nine people gathered to have a fun time in the tranquil little town of Wimberley on the shores of the river.  I imagine what fun they must have been having, perhaps cooking hamburgers on the grill, laughing, shopping in the quaint shops of the little town, maybe fishing or even swimming in the river earlier that day.  Good friends, good times, making good memories.  But around dark, an alarm went out – a reverse 911 call – warning people in the area that the river was expected to flood.  Tornado warnings were sounded.  The good times were about to end, and the good memories were about to become a nightmare.

The pictures of those people who were gathered for a relaxing weekend have been all over the internet and the news, accompanied with pleas for prayers and for help to find them.  The house had been washed off its footings by the flood, carried down river where it was slammed into a bridge and demolished.  One of the men was found, injured, but alive.  Since then, the bodies of some of the others in this group have been found, but sadly, some are still missing.  Another young man, not in this group, was killed in a town just up the river from Wimberley.  Further south from here, a young girl, coming home from her senior prom, was killed when her car was washed away by flood waters.  Stories like these are being repeated, time and again, all over Texas and Oklahoma.

My heart has been aching all week for these people and their families.  My prayers and the prayers of many, many others have been heard by our Loving Father.  I hope that the friends and families of those who have been killed and those who are still missing have been strengthened by our prayers.

“So,” some might ask, “why is this happening?  These were good people, not criminals.  Three were just little children.  They did not deserve this!”

The answer is, “No, they did not.”

The truth is, we may never know the answer to the “why” question, this side of heaven.  But I do know that these people loved God and trusted Him with their lives.  They even trusted Him if that meant He was ready to take them to be with Him before WE think it was time.  That’s what is meant when we say that God is sovereign.  When we acknowledge that He is sovereign, we acknowledge that His ways are not our ways, and that He has a plan that we may not understand, but that we accept by faith:

 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We acknowledge that we belong to Him because He created us and the world we live in:

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers (Psalm 24:1-2).

We acknowledge that He has the right to do as He will:

Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing (Job 9:12)?’

We also know that we live in a world that has been affected by sin.  When Adam sinned and sin entered the world, it affected, not just Adam, and not just mankind, but sin affected all of creation:

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Romans 8:20-22, New Living Translation).

We who love God and who live according to His word are subject to the same natural forces of this world as anyone.  We don’t live in a “holy bubble,” protected from danger, disease, and death.  Jesus said:

For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45b).

He understands that we are hurting right now.  It’s okay to cry.  God weeps with us in our distress.  When Lazarus, the friend of Jesus died John wrote simply, “Jesus wept.”  Jesus did not weep because Lazarus had died.  Jesus was about to bring him back to life.  But Jesus wept because He felt the hurt of the sisters of Lazarus.  He feels our hurt today, and He feels the hurt of the families and friends of those lost in the floods:

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3-4a).

The point of Jesus’ message was that, even though we may suffer the same way that nonbelievers suffer, our reaction to the sun and the rain, or to the good times and the bad times, the happy days and the days of disaster, should be different from the reaction of those who do not know Him.  That’s why Jesus taught us to build our lives upon Him, the Solid Rock:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (Matthew 5:24-27).”

The family whose home was washed away in Wimberley, Texas last Saturday night built their “spiritual house” on the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ.  Their home may have been washed away, along with everything in it, but their faith in Jesus prepared them for that day.  They will spend eternity with Him.  And their friends and family can be comforted in knowing that they are in His presence right now.  Their bodies may be lost, but their eternal lives are not lost, but are in the presence of Holy Sovereign God, and they are rejoicing with each other, singing praises to Him who rescued them from eternal death through the blood of Jesus Christ.

We cannot wait until the floods come.  We have to be prepared in advance.  We never know when we will face a flood, or a car crash, or a terminal diagnosis from the doctor.  2 Corinthians 2:6 says, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Tomorrow may be too late. My prayer for you this week is that you know Him and that you have entrusted your life to Him.  If you have not, do it now:

1.  Agree with God that you have sinned: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”

2.  Understand that when Jesus gave his life on the cross, He did it to pay for your sins, along with the sins of all the world:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).”

3.  Accept the free gift that Jesus is offering you – the gift of eternal life with Him:  “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).”

4.  Follow Christ.  Yes, His is a free gift, but receiving that gift of eternal life with Him means that we have to turn our backs on our old life.  We have to make Him Lord of our lives, as though we are slaves to Him who purchased us with his own blood.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15),” and, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24).”

If you have agreed with God that you need Him, and if you understand that He is your only hope, and if you have accepted His gift of eternal life, and if you want to follow Him, then pray this prayer with me.  He will send His Holy Spirit to live in you, to guide you and teach you, and to comfort you in a way that only He can:

Dear God, I admit that I have sinned and that I do not deserve to be called righteous.  But I understand that your Son paid the price for my sinfulness when He died on the cross.  Thank you for the gift of eternal life with You that Jesus provided, once and for anyone who will trust Him.  I want to follow You, and I want to leave my old life behind.  Thank you for helping me to live the way you want me to live.  I am trusting you with the rest of my life.  Amen.

If you have prayed this prayer, then you are now my brother or sister in Christ.  He promises us that He will never leave us or forsake us.  But in order to follow Him, and in order to learn more about Him, find a church that teaches the Bible, God’s Word.  Let someone there know that you want to follow Jesus and learn more about Him.  They will connect you with people who will help you and encourage you as you grow in knowledge and faith in Him.  God bless you.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is from the English Standard Version.