Morning Devotional
August  29, 2005
"Katrina"      
    by Don Emmitte

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:2-3 NLT).

 

While watching the news today (Sunday morning), I saw the predicted path of Katrina. It is already strengthened to a category four hurricane and likely will be at a category five when it makes landfall somewhere near New Orleans. I’ve lived through one of those when I was a teenager living on the island of Galveston. As ready as you might think you are, you are not near ready enough!

 

Life storms are like that also. The key to our peace is in knowing that God will be with us during the storm. Believing that eases the fear and anxiety and allows us to divert strength to better face the storm. If you are blessed with creativity and an over-active imagination, you relate. Events, which may or may not ever happen, loom above us, before us and within us until all peace is gone. Our minds run haywire with insecurity, fear, apprehension and dread. Over-active minds can get us into overwhelming storms before they ever happen! We desperately need a GUARD for our minds. He is there! Remember the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples through they would surely die. But, Jesus was there. And, remember where he was… asleep in the boat, not a worry or care. After all, he is the Creator of the wind and the waves. He's in control to stop the storm or protect us in the storm. He rests on His own merit, for Heaven's Guard knows, and He is at peace.

 

He wants to be our peace if we will let Him. HE is in the boat! So calm down, rest in him. 

During the Storm...He's there! But, there’s one other thing to remember: He’s also in control! Anyone with an over-active mind knows it goes hand in hand with a racing heart! Emotional overload...thoughts flooding and storming our minds! The floods penetrate to the heart, seat of our emotions, and we can become paralyzed with fear--so much fear that we head straight for the Storm Guard! Well, it's about time--that's what He's wanted us to do right along. When the sailing is smooth, sometimes we forget the Source. The storm brings us right back to where we belong--close to Him. And He's there.... Where? In the boat, fast asleep? They can't believe it and so they awaken Him with pleas for help. "Master, we perish!" We're so much like the faithless disciples sometimes. God is in our boat and we think we're going down! Well, God--the Guard--is not about to fail us. We are SAFE in His keeping, and when we finally realize that wonderful truth, there will be peace, in His presence. All is well for HE is in the boat! Wide awake! So calm down, rest in Him!

 

A stormy lesson...it's coming! God does not allow storms to toss and turn our boat without a lesson to be learned. And what's the lesson? Okay, here comes the lecture--the condemnation and then the guilt. The storm is over--but WHY didn't we trust Him? See, even HE condemns us on top of an already condemning self. NO, no, a thousand times, NO! God does not condemn or scold you for "no faith." As one of my friends gently reminded ME after a storm, God uses storms to strengthen our faith, so the NEXT time (yep, another storm WILL come sooner or later--count on it!), we will TRUST Him, just a little more. We will say, "He brought me through THAT storm, and by Heaven's help, He will do it again!" Storms are to grow UP, not go DOWN... remember that NEXT time you face a category five in your life!