Life Lines
the still small voice
When Hurricane Irma was churning through Florida back in September, the
Rev. Jeremy Simons noted in his Pastor’s Message in the Bryn Athyn Post that
the media were calling it a “heartless storm.” But, he said, “Perhaps more than
anything else, natural disasters illustrate the difference between natural and
spiritual things . . . that nature is heartless, it has no mercy, whereas spiritual
life is all about mercy.”
Besides the hurricanes assaulting the Caribbean and the Southeastern
United States, we have seen an earthquake in Mexico City, forest fires in
California and the American northwest, and flooding in Asia. Such natural
disasters used to be called “acts of God,” but we know the Lord never wills such
tragedy. These are permissions – whose fury is matched by the Lord’s mercy.
The Sermon on the Mount reminds us: “Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you . . . that you may be the children of your Father which is in
heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
Our natural world is governed by physical laws, and we live in freedom
between the conflicting influences of heaven and hell. And so we witness and
experience tragedy and disruption – without apparent mercy for the victims.
But heaven is governed by spiritual laws – by the Lord’s love and mercy. On
earth our peace is often threatened. In heaven there is always “the peace that
passeth understanding.”
This is the Lord’s mercy: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” (John 14:27)
Even in the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and floods, the assurance
is always there. When Elijah was commanded to stand upon the mount before
the Lord, “a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the
rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an
earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a
fire, but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
That is what we always need to be hearing and heeding as turmoil rages
around us – the still small voice of the Lord, speaking to us of love and mercy.
(BMH)
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