Blessings Can Come From A Curse
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<Joshua said,> “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”’ (Joshua 24:15)
With yet another hurricane bearing down on us here in Florida, we often face these storms with trepidation, fear, and for some of us, a bit of panic. For good reason, I might add; the destruction they cause, whether slight or severe, create havoc. For myself, it has never been (yet) destruction in a physical sense but it has been the loss of power that creates the struggle of keeping the generator running so to keep the refrigerators and freezer running, the street flooding that entraps us in our home for several days, and the stresses leading up to the storm hitting, and then the stresses afterward in the cleanup.
Many see the hurricane as a being a ‘curse’, with all the destruction and interruption it caused, but I also see it as a blessing. During Ian, several people were assisted in visits by Florida Baptist Disaster Relief, with tarps on placed on roofs, trees cut down, and some clean up. There were witnessing to these people for some time, and many wanted nothing to do with God – until FBDR folks came and just started talking about the Lord; between themselves and to those they were helping.
They gave these folks a Bible and the Gospel, and several gave their life to Christ, thanks to the example brought by the FBDR team that day. Over 100 confessions of Christ were made due to the efforts of FBDR. Without the hurricane, these people would not have been able to experience the Love of Christ through these fellow Floridians and followers of Christ.
In today’s society, there are those who hear someone mention the name of Jesus, and immediately shut down or go into ignore mode. Hurricane Ian was both a curse and a blessing, and it could also be seen as neither, as it is likely there were some who were possibly getting ready to follow Jesus before Ian hit. Now, they wonder why God would send such a force in our path.
The Book of Joshua shows us what can happen with Faith; though they stumbled a few times, the Israelites left Egypt and overcame many obstacles (including self-inflicted ones, like the golden calf episode) and are now and the end of their journey. They have taken over Canaan, and have possession of all the Promised Land. God’s glory was seen by the Israelites first hand at the Red Sea and at Mount Sinai, and after this generation passed, Jesus (God Manifested) appeared and came to lead His army against Jericho. Yet, there are still skeptics and doubters. So Joshua, approaching the end of his life, gives the Israelites each a choice; follow God or follow someone else. He also tells the multitudes within the tribes he has already made up his mind; Joshua is all in for the Lord!
Today, we’ve gone through COVID (and many variations of it), many hurricanes like Milton, inflation, food shortages, and more. We who believe and follow Jesus see these situations and events as where in Faith the Lord blessed us and we saw His hand in each. Those who did not believe before now may either see Jesus in these events and accept Him or blame Him or not see Him at all, and choose to turn away. That choice is up to them, but we would be remiss as Christians if we did not first tell them the Truth; that God is in control, He loves them and does not want them to perish in eternal flames of the Lake of Fire.
The choice is theirs to make, but they must be informed. The choice is not finalized until death comes, but before that we cannot give up. We cannot give up because of a storm, or give up because of someone’s stubbornness. Keep the Faith and keep moving forward!
