I have been having a really hard time with the thought that if God is in control of the everything that happens in the world. How could he allow catastrophe and storms to come? Not like problems and hardships, but physical storms. It’s not like the water sinned and that’s the consequence or a series of circumstances and bad decisions led to the storm. It was simply the water became so hot that it caused a hurricane.
So during worship at church, I ask God, how can He allow all these storms to happen? If he is sovereign and in control of the everything that goes on, how could that be apart of his plan? Then he impressed on my heart a profound thought I had not thought of: when people are shaken up good things come out of it. When storms happen the best comes out of us. We see unity, love, generosity and open hearts. It’s not that God wants us to suffer but look at what’s coming out of all these hard times. We are taken out of our comfort zone, people consider prayer, people give what they have to those in need, they care about other people than themselves. It’s not that he allowed this to happen so that we can suffer, but because in hardships we come back to our center, we come back to the core of what matters and that’s people and God.
The thought that people are encouraging each other to call on God is huge. Does He not want us to be in relationship with him and talk to Him? #prayforourworld. We were created to be the object of His love, to be in relationship with him and worship him. Sometimes we become more vocal with God when we need Him most. It is very evident that we need God to make a way for us to help those in need.
In addition, does God not instructs us to put others before ourselves? He most certainly does. In Philippians 2:3-4 it says, “Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.” We get to live out what God says because it is the right thing to do. The storm opened our eyes, our wallets, and our hearts to think about someone other than ourselves.
We come back to seeking God in his fullness. We come back to look at God as our source of hope, our strength, and our comforter. Not in and of ourselves because in our own strength it’s difficult, but with God on our side all things are possible. We are able to care about people and not our material positions that don’t last forever. When all is stripped away here on earth and all we have is God and each other we can see clearly. Don’t allow the hardships to stop us from seeing the bigger picture. We all have to do our part spreading love and hope to lift up those that feel defeated. We need those strong people around us to believe that the best is yet to come when we don’t believe it for ourselves.
Love last forever. ❤️
