If disaster comes

If disaster comes upon us- sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine- we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save. – 2 Chronicles 20v9

What an appropriate passage for October 2010. ‘If disaster comes,’ certainly suits the day. Most folks acknowledge that the financial disaster where we find ourselves is far from over.

Who knows, really, just how bad this disaster is going to be? Disasters though are a part of life. They may be physical, economic, military, weather related, illness, terrorist provoked, emotional, or many other types. But they are part of what we have to deal with.

I love disaster films. I think have watched all of the major ones. I wish I could say I like them for some type of deep and intellectual reason, but I just like them.

No matter what the disaster someone always rises to the occasion. Sometimes it is the obvious hero and sometimes it is the one would least expect. After the inevitable conflict those who follow the leader (for the most part) survive and those who oppose him perish. They end with just a vision of hope the future and a good feeling that they have endured.

Real life disaster has a difference though. It is real life. There are things that we are going to have to face. The advantage for us though is that we have a hope that will never fail. Jehoshaphat rehearsed all that God had done, and then told the people how to respond. Jehoshaphat said that they would go to God, cry out to Him, and wait for His response. Later on in verse 12 we read that they were going to keep their eyes on the Lord.

Our real life disasters are much more terrifying than the worst disaster film. On the other hand the Hero of our disasters will never fail to carry us through.