Yesterday, I watched the news coverage of the storm-ravaged southern communities. The images of the flooded communities and debris filled terrain from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina rendered me speechless. As I watched scene after scene and took in the destruction and listened to the plight of millions and learned of the deaths of hundreds, I felt powerless.
Then the LORD does what the LORD does. I saw Franklin Graham and his Samaritan’s Purse volunteers on the ground in Valdosta, Georgia, a community I know well from having grown in Waycross, Georgia. He and his volunteers were there to help. He and his volunteers were there to bring needed supplies. He and his followers were there to offer loving support. He and his volunteers were there to pray with the community as well as to work alongside them. I realize I can’t be there personally because my presence would be a liability rather than an asset. But those images made me realize that I wasn’t powerless unless I gave into that unholy urge.
Immediately, I was moved to pray for those suffering and for those who were there for all of us, those who were there to lend support. And when I was done with my prayer, I looked for a way to send aid through a reputable service organization (Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse). And finally, I vowed to continue to do both because the restoration of these communities will take time.
As I sat with this yesterday, I thought of a family in my community who is still grieving the loss of a child. And I took that to prayer, as well. I prayed for the family, and I prayed for the LORD to lead me in reaching out and in helping this beautiful family. And I made plans to stop and visit today.
We who believe in the all-loving and ever-present LORD are challenged in this world because there is so much suffering. As the Letter of James reminds us, we must be “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22). And he further challenges us when he reminds us that faith without works is dead (James 2).
Jesus taught us this through His many teaching and miracles. Often we don’t act because we believe that we or what we can bring are insufficient. Yet, how many times did Jesus show us how wrong we are in that thinking? How many times did he take a few fish and loaves and feed thousands with baskets and baskets of leftovers? And He asks us, “Why don’t you give them something to eat?” You see, we can, we could, we should. But it means we have to realize we aren’t powerless. We can follow Jesus’ example: take what we have, though it may seem insufficient; give thanks to the LORD for what we have and turn it over to the LORD for good and for the LORD’s use; share it with those in need.
This day, as we continue on our journeys of faith, in hope, fueled by love, let us resist the unholy urge to give up, to shrug our shoulders and say, “I am powerless.”
As long as the LORD is with us, we are not powerless. As long as we turn what we have and who we are over to the LORD for the LORD’s holy purpose, we are not powerless. He did not create us to be. He does not call us to be. He calls us to be reliant upon Him. He calls us to love Him with all our being and one another. How could anyone believe that meant that we are rendered powerless?
Until tomorrow, let us all love well.
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