Hurricane Helene, a destroyer of towns, highways and roads and taker of lives, left her wake of destruction in the Southeastern United States this last fall. Videos emerged of the war zone Helene left behind. I do not recall a hurricane in recent history that has taken out as many roads and leveled as many towns as this one. People on the front lines, with hurricane relief experience used words like, “apocalyptic," "war zone," to describe the damage.
Thousands are homeless and jobless with no community to return to. No functioning schools, stores, hospitals, and all the other things that make up a hometown. People are still missing and unaccounted for today. Thousands more were stranded in homes, colleges, hospitals and businesses, surrounded with water, with no food, water, electricity or cell phone capabilities for weeks. Thank God for hundreds of private helicopter owners, National guardsmen and some rescue services that airlifted people from the newly created islands.
To date, very few Helene survivors, particularly in Western North Carolina have received any help from the federal government. Many have been helped by nonprofits and generous individuals, but the need and the loss are greater than what most can imagine. There are hundreds of survivors now, in November, living on their land in tents alongside the ruins of their homes, farms and businesses. Tents, in cold and snowy conditions. Can you try to imagine the emotional impact of this? Tragically, last week, an infant died of hypothermia in one of those tents.
In this moment of tragedy and loss for our fellow countrymen, it feels almost tasteless and tone deaf for me to try and write or speak about peace in circumstances that are unimaginable for most of us.
If I were face to face with any of Helene’s survivors, would I even dare to use the phrase, “the peace of God?” Would they rail at me and ask me where God’s peace was while the storm destroyed their town and swept away family members? Maybe, and understandably.
Some of you have experienced various kinds of hurricanes in your own lives this year. Trials and challenges that turned life as you knew it on its head. Whether it was a cancer diagnosis, a divorce decree, a death, job loss or something else, the result is the same. You’ve lost much of what you knew to be ordinary, everyday life. Your hurricane changed things and not for the good. Do I dare talk about the peace of God to you either? Have you quietly wondered why he didn’t show up for you the way you hoped he would?
In John 11 we read about a time when Jesus showed up late, too late to stop a tragedy from happening in the lives of his dear friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus became ill and his sisters sent word to Jesus asking him to please come. They knew he could heal their brother. But Jesus didn’t come right away. By the time he arrived, Lazarus had died.
In that culture, for two unmarried women to lose their brother, the man of the house, the breadwinner and protector, was catastrophic. In the shock of their grief and disappointment about Jesus’ late arrival both sisters said the same thing to him. “If only you had been here.”
If only Jesus had healed my loved one.
If only Jesus would have kept me from being fired.
If only Jesus could have changed my spouse’s heart.
If only Jesus could have stopped the foreclosure.
If only Jesus had kept Hurricane Helene out in the ocean, never to make landfall.
The rough places of life are where we know that in his perfect power God is fully capable of changing the whole dynamic and outcome of a terrible situation, but he does not.
Mary and Martha had no idea that Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. From their perspective he let them down and you can tell by what they say to him that their hearts were struggling to be at peace.
And what does Jesus say to them? To Martha he says, “Your brother will rise again. I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will never die.” But Martha didn’t understand what he meant beyond the future hope of seeing Lazarus in heaven.
To Mary all he said was, “Where did you put him?” Not “I’m sorry,” or one word of sympathy.
What is Jesus saying to you and me when we stand in the wreckage and grief of what was once our life?
Death is at work with every trial and loss we experience. The death of dreams, plans, and hopes. The death of physical bodies. The death of businesses and jobs. The death of churches and institutions. The death of relationships and associations. It’s difficult to think of any trial in this life that doesn’t have the stink of death on it somewhere.
And what does Jesus say to death? “I am the resurrection and the life.” Revelation 1:18 tells us that Jesus has conquered death, hell, and the grave.
Whatever dark forces ruin and wreck our lives, in Jesus,
there can always be a resurrection.
He brings new life, new hope, and new possibilities into the worst of situations. Isaiah 43:19 tells us that God is always doing a new thing in our lives, making ways in our wilderness and rivers in our deserts. And how do we endure the present, with all its sorrows, loss, and grief, until we are living in the new thing God makes for us? Jesus tells us in John 14:27.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Jesus knew we would go through terrible times, things that threaten to crush us completely. That’s why he left us the gift of his peace. The way I frame it when I’m going through a terrible trial is to say aloud something like this. “God is going to do something good for me. I don’t know when or how but he’s going to do something. He is walking every step with me through this darkness, and he will not leave me alone in the valley of the shadow.”
In the worst of situations, the promise of Jesus’ peace holds firm because God said so. Philippians 4:7 tells us that God’s peace is beyond human understanding but always available to those who keep their eyes on him, no matter what.
Whatever you are facing today, God sees, God knows, and he cares deeply. His peace is accessible 24/7 simply by asking. In this Thanksgiving week, when we consider the things for which we are thankful, may you remember at least two or three of those things even during dark days. God is still good. Always.
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