We live in Western North Carolina which experienced a significant amount of devastation from Hurricane Helene. Although our home and immediate area is fine, the devastation around us is traumatizing.
I lived for 23 years in South Florida, and during that time, we went through more hurricanes than I can count. The devastation in Western North Carolina is nothing like anything I have ever seen before. To be sure, I have seen it on the internet when it happened in other areas, but to be in my own area was something very different.
We had no cell phone service for several days. When I finally could make calls, I spoke with a colleague in Kentucky who lived amongst back-to-back devastating floods in the last three years. As we ended the call, she said, “I hope you … [pause] …” I thought she was going to say “get back to normal soon.” Instead, she said, “I hope you … [pause] are stable soon.”
Stable is a good word. We will not have normal for awhile. Without the distractions of internet, I read a book in the evenings. Our family pitched in and volunteered at different locations in town. We took water to one of my employees who did not have running water at her house. We helped to clean up at our church which had about a foot of water on the church property and left inches of mud behind. We helped to support our church staff who were trying to help with immediate needs in the community.
By the end of the week, I couldn’t look at any more pictures, and I began to feel overwhelmed.
Sunday morning, the Lord brought to mind a verse I read in the book I picked up earlier in the week. Isaiah 30:15: “For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing.”
Israel was facing an enemy army, and instead of turning to the Lord God, they turned to Egypt. In chapter 30, God warned Israel through the prophet Isaiah that Egypt would be no use.
In times of distress, our instinct is to be anxious and disquieted. But God said “in quietness and trust is your strength.” Sitting in church Sunday morning, this verse helped me refocus my anxiety and disquietness into the context of Isaiah 30:15. We find our strength in God by resting in Him. We find our strength in God through quietness (no anxiety) and trust in Him.
When we rest in the Lord in quietness and trust, we can transcend the loss of temporal things and anchor ourselves in the Lord. Rest in the Lord and find your strength in the Lord through quietness and trust.
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