Have you ever heard the song "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan? It is really good... and you should listen if you haven't before so here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0luHiWwi08&feature=related.
In the song John Mark McMillan compares God's love to a natural event, he says:
"He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane,
I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy"
I really love this image- this hurricane and tree dynamic… that in the midst of a storm His love and mercy is right there with us and we may bend but He doesn’t give us more than we can handle… So beautiful.
I have been thinking about this in regards to the recent evens in Japan. The earthquake followed by the tsunami. Two other natural events- God created the earth and all creation points to some truth of who He is. We live in a broken world and sin distorts some of that good God designed, but as I watched a video on the news during dinner showing the tsunami wave rolling through I couldn’t help but see God even in that. Watching the tsunami roll through the towns made me realize the power of water. One of the stories I love about Jesus is the Samaritan woman by the well in John 4. In it Jesus refers to the water God gives as living water. I associate God with that everlasting water image- how we will never thirst again when we drink from the living water. Water is necessary for life- and God is necessary for eternal life. I started thinking of God as those everlasting waters as I watched the wavers from the tsunami tear through towns. It was so symbolic of how nothing manmade can stand up to the power of the water- God can tear down those things that we try to build up in our lives that aren’t Him. Those things we build up that distract us from Him and give us a sense of protection. As I watched the building and houses crumble, the cars get swept away, it made me realize that God does that in our lives too. He is that water… He takes away and knocks down those things we cling to because they are nothing compared to Him- they are weak. He doesn’t do that because He wants us to suffer, but because He knows there is no life in those things- in the car we drive, the house we live in, what our yard looks like, or what our societal status may be.
It also made me think about what the significance that this tsunami and many tsunamis occur after earthquakes might be. In my life I have seen that combo- where God rocks my world by opening my eyes to where I really am in life- how I have fallen away from worshipping Him with my whole heart and whole life, and then helps me to remove those things that had become idols that I was worshipping or protecting as more important that Him. When I won’t give them up- sometimes He takes them away out of His love. It is a painful process because I let those things get to a place where they shouldn’t be in the first place but on the other side I am so thankful to have gone through that pain because I am in such a better place with him as a result. And that is reflected in how I live my life.
For the record- I am not saying this is true of all Japan- that they were worshipping idols and this is Gods wrath on them or anything like that at all! I just find it amazing that in the midst of this sadness, a truth about God and His character is revealed through His creation- nature. It is amazing to see the earthquake and tsunami combination that He uses in my life… and learn from seeing it in real life.
The people of Japan and their families are on my heart and in my prayers- I pray that God would be revealed amidst all this sadness, that He would bring peace and hope, that with nothing else to rely on eyes would be opened to God and His goodness and ability to provide there.
