Month: September 2022

The first time I gave much thought to hurricane preparation was when my oldest daughter moved to Florida and the school asked for a hurricane plan so they could account for students in the event of an emergency. We talked about what she would need to bring and where she could go. We lived 800 miles away, so coming home wasn’t the best option. Fortunately, that plan never needed to be implemented.

Now we live more than 5000 miles away and there’s a hurricane coming. 

She has a couple options in response to the storm, but none of them involve coming home or me going to get her. I have a couple options, too. I can worry and let anxiety have free reign in me, or I can remember that God reigns, and trust that He’s in control of the storm and He cares for my daughter. He’s in a far better position to care for her, to provide for her and protect her, than I will ever be. 

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” - Jeremiah 29:11

I take the promise in this verse personally – God has good plans for me and He can be trusted because He is good. I tell my children this over and over again. The question is, do I really believe it? When what’s precious to me is threatened, do I still behave in a way that says God is good and He can be trusted? Am I telling my children one thing and then modeling something far different? 

No one on earth will love your kids like you do. But I’m certain the Father in heaven loves them more. He has given you the privilege and responsibility of raising them. You are His uniquely suited agent to minister to them, but you aren’t His only option. He can provide for and care for them in ways you can’t imagine. He can go where you cannot. He can see what you cannot. He can do what you cannot. And He cares for them with tenderhearted mercy, with compassion, with loving-kindness, and with power.

A lot has changed in the years since my daughter made that first hurricane response plan. What made sense then wouldn’t make sense now. God knew that plan wouldn’t be any good on the day she actually needed it and He had a better plan in mind that He revealed at the right time. So while Ian bears down on Florida, my own response is this – pray to the Father to reveal His mercy, and rely on Him in His sovereign wisdom to do what is most needful in this situation. 

We have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. - Hebrews 5:14

God might not see my trials the same way I do. I see them as undesirable, challenging things to be avoided whenever possible. But it’s possible that God sees them as a necessary part of the process of conforming me to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). It’s entirely probable that only intense pressure will ever shift me enough to fit into that mold. I’m certain there are times when a complete amputation is called for. The part He cuts off might be precious to me, but He knows that it absolutely must go if the work is ever to be finished.

The thing is, He prunes every plant that bears fruit (John 15:2). We might not be wholly in agreement about the necessity of that pruning, thinking, surely it won’t hurt anything if that particular shoot is allowed to grow. But He’s doing something immeasurably greater than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). We have in mind a nice clematis trained to grow casually on a trellis. His work depends on patience and a steady hand to yield something as precisely exquisite as a topiary.

If I truly want the end result, I’m going to have to submit to the work in progress. My “help” isn’t really helpful if I’m constantly interfering, complaining, or trying to put back what He’s already removed. Too often I’m like a rebellious child; always He is a patient and loving Father. He cares how I turn out. He is passionately committed to my well-being. So much so that He is unwilling to leave me to go my own way or to give in to my immature demands. 

Solomon’s advice to us is sound – Don’t despise the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:11-12). He loves us. If He allows a trial to come our way, it might not feel good, but we can be assured that it is for our good. So let the pruned branches be tossed into the fire. Let the rearranged parts stay in their new position. God is treating us like His beloved children!