The Storm and What Comes of It

It’s been raining for most of the week. Heavily. So much so that our county (and I am sure a great many others) have been considered a disaster area. Roads have been washed out, many areas are flooded, rivers and creeks, as of 7 hours ago, were past flood stage. I don’t know the extent of the damage, and I am not sure who is coming to fellowship this morning, but I pray that those who venture from a little further out do so in a safe manner! Despite the damage, despite the flood and the risk, I am convinced of one thing: God is still in control.

Loved ones, many things happen in our lives, much of them are beyond our control, but God is not panicking. There are, to quote Corrie Ten Boom, no emergencies in heaven, only plans. Many of us are going through storms. There is damage done in our lives. And yet, God is on the throne. So if our lives are chaotic, let us not look to ourselves, but look to God who does not move or change due to variation. He is not moved by our culture. He is not panicking over our circumstance so let us hold fast to Him. Let us rejoice, even when the floods wash away our roads, and build our house on the Rock of Jesus Christ who sits at His right side.

Daniel 7:1-14

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

“As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

“I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.