I Never Saw Them Run That Fast

The following is my devotional from last night (5/25/11).

While I don’t think anyone would think of Memorial Day as being a particularly exciting kind of holiday, I can remember one from my childhood that certainly was. The reason I can remember it is because it was the day where I saw my parents run the fastest that I had ever seen them run, and likely the fastest they’ve ever run since.

We had wanted to do something special on this particular day, and one of the few attractions open in our area was Casey Jones Village, in Jackson, TN. They had a “putt-putt” golf course that we had every intention of playing on. The problem was that the weather was supposed to get pretty bad sometime later in the afternoon. Well, we ignored that.

We made the trip to Jackson (about a half hour drive) and pulled into the parking lot for the golf course. After paying the fees, and picking up our putters and golf balls, we set out onto the course. The first few holes were uneventful. Then terror struck.

A gigantic blast of wind blew across the course and torrential downpour of rain started all at once. We looked up, and we were shocked to see a tornado just right across the road! My parents grabbed my sister and me, and we took off across the golf course, seeking shelter. I had never realized that my parents were quite as quick on their feet as they were! In the blur, I remember looking across the course and seeing another family with children doing the same thing. I clearly remember being terrified.

After a few seconds, though, the wind died down, and the tornado went away. Or at least that’s what we thought it was. You see, across the interstate from where we were located, there was an area where heavy construction was taking place. They were building a huge shopping center, and because of that, had graded all of the grass off of a big field. Evidently, the wind blew in just the right way so as to pick up a lot of that dust and shape it to where it looked just like a tornado. It was a sigh of relief to realize what had happened, but it still took a few moments for the shaking to stop.

Never had I felt so exposed, and in danger. Even though what at first seemed threatening turned out to be nothing, I still couldn’t shake the feelings of “what if.” What if it had been real? What would we have done? We had no real shelter.

Sadly, that’s the same progression of feelings that people often have spiritually when it comes to problems they face, those spiritual storms, if you will. They ignore the clear warning signs around them that danger is on the horizon, and to seek shelter. In other words, they think they can make it on their own without God.

Maybe its temptation. Maybe it’s relationship problems. Whatever it may be, they ignore the problems, and thus, ignore the solution. Then the storm strikes and they wonder where it came from. How could it be so bad? Since they didn’t prepare to find shelter in the first place, they run around aimlessly, terrified, often seeking help in all the wrong places. They become spiritually confused, and sadly, fall.

But God wants us to know that He is the shelter for the storms of life. He provides that shelter at all times. When life gets hard, he wants us to come to him (cf. 1 Peter 5:6-7). It makes a huge difference to find Him before you even think you need Him, instead of waiting until it’s too late.

We know that God always takes care of His people. We find an interesting passage in Isaiah which is written to this effect. In Chapter 25, we see what is a song of praise. It’s a song of praise about deliverance. What’s strange about it is that it is written before the events song is praising ever even happen.

“¹ O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth…⁴ For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall ” (Isaiah 25:1, 4, NKJV)

Oh what a wonderful thing to be so sure of God’s deliverance that Isaiah could sing a song of praise about it before it even happened. Just as God eventually delivered them, He promises to see us through whatever we may face in this life, storms and all (1 Corinthians 10:13), and to give us a way to safety.

Do you have that same surety of God’s deliverance? How fast can you run to Him?

“¹⁸ That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. ¹⁹ This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, ²⁰ where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. ” (Hebrews 6:18–20, NKJV)

~Daniel Howell