“The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.” (Psalm 93:3-4)
I hate water issues. Yeah, I know, hate is a strong word, and a Christian is supposed to “tiptoe through the tulips” like Jesus and be all full of love and nice warm fuzzies all around. Sorry. I hate water leaks. There is nothing you can do about them. Water is the universal solvent; it has the power to erode anything it comes in contact with. Just check out the Grand Canyon sometime for an example. Water always seeks the lowest level. If there is a crack or gap anywhere in your house, water will find it, and once it does, fixing it is like trying to solve the national debt or the Middle East conflict. Only Jesus will be able to fix those things.
Last week, we had some torrential rainfall in Kansas City. Over a couple of day’s time, about 4 inches of rain fell in our neck of the woods. We are in the final stages of finishing our remodel project on our new building, so in a sense, the heavy rain was welcome in that it manifested a couple of places in the building that needed attention. A normal everyday rain would not have brought these out, but that gully washer did. It was good to find that out before we put down new carpets. Now we can address those problems and hopefully get them resolved.
Life deals everyone fits. In some cases, the problems we face are like the “mighty waves of the sea” that come crashing down in full fury like the Christmas Day Tsunami a few years back. Financial ruin, serious crime, divorce and other family crises, life threatening illnesses, and even untimely death unfortunately befall some of God’s people. But most of our problems are like the dripping faucet or the leaky window. They are just little annoying nuisances that are frustrating and seem to keep re-occurring despite our best efforts to resolve them. We live in a sinful world, and the results always “seek the lowest level” and find the cracks in our lives. Left untreated, they can become very serious. That is why a little storm is an occasional blessing in our lives. It points out areas of weakness in our spiritual foundation that need a little extra attention. The Bible says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) It seems odd to thank God for the storms of life. Those are the times when we are the most bitter, angry, and frustrated at God and our “unfair” lot in life. When the water leak is evident, my emotions get all tied up in knots because I know it is not going to be easy to fix it, and life will be uncomfortable until it is.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” Those little nagging sins that “doth so easily beset us” are like the leaky faucets and foundation cracks that keep recurring. Our enemy likes to taunt us with them. They frustrate the fire out of us, but they will only get worse unless we deal with them. Get out a little “caulk” of the word of God and seal up the areas in your life that give you problems. You will never fix all of them until you are home in glory, but that is no excuse for ignoring them. When the torrential storms of life hit, lean hard into the shelter of your Saviour. Though the floods lift themselves up, the Lord is mightier than the noise of many waters. As much as we hate to deal with things like this, the only way to fix them is to “lean on the everlasting arms” of Jesus.
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