Today we are waiting for hurricane Dorian. Someone on Facebook said that “waiting for a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle.” Yep!
Like many in Wilmington, we are stocked with water, flashlights, batteries, Oreos, Chips Ahoy and a little patience. We have all devices charged and have a generator in the garage that was never taken out of the box last year. By the time we were able to get home after Florence, our electricity was back on. We bought the generator as we journeyed home from Winston-Salem because we might need it. What if we don’t have electricity when we get home?
It seems that life before a hurricane is filled with “what ifs?” We fill up our cars with gas prior to a storm because what if the gas pumps don’t work after the storm and we need to go somewhere? We clear off the deck because what if the wind picks up the table and crashes it into the sliding glass door? Yet experience tells us that these are good responses to the what if question.
The what if? question goes beyond a hurricane. It’s really the question that is repeated over and over throughout life.
What if my decision is the wrong one?
What if the job doesn’t work out?
What if the lump is malignant?
What if they find out exactly who I am?
What if they find out what I’ve done?
Most often it’s the question that is rooted in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of others, fear of the lack of control.
Yet – suppose – what if? – we centered our lives in God’s what if question.
God asks:
What if you believe me?
What if you trust me?
What if you let go and quit hanging on so tight?
What if you forgive?
What if you ask me to help you?
Maybe the answer to the what if question is to remember. Over and over, God instructed his people to remember.
“Remember the days of old . . . who brought you up out of the sea . . . who put His spirit within you . . . who divided the waters before you . . . who led you through the depths? Like cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of the Lord gave them rest.” – Isaiah 63:11-14
Instead of asking myself the what if question rooted in fear, I pray to ask the what if question rooted in God’s amazing love.
Francois Fenelon writes: “Oh, how much better are we sustained by love than by fear! Fear enslaves, constrains and troubles us; but love persuades, consoles, animates us; possesses our whole soul, and makes us desire goodness for its own sake.” *
What if I believe you, O God? What if I trust you, O Lord? May it be so.
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Prayer Request –
I invite you to join me in prayer and support for all of those who are suffering and have lost so much in the hurricane, especially those in the Bahamas. Also be in prayer for first responders and those who offer assistance to so many.
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*Quote from Selections from the Writings of Francois Fenelon, found in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God © 2013, p. 320.
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