Vacationing just south of Myrtle Beach, SC, I sat numerous times and watched the waves tumble onto the sand. In the warmth of the sun, I pondered life and all its happenings. This vacation re-visited those many times as a young family when we had rented a beach house, filled it with family and friends, and for a week simply enjoyed the simplicity of quietness. The shoreline bore no visible signs of change when compared to the memories I held, but the waves, the surf, had dumped and tumbled, drawn close and then receded for day after day after day. The sand still lay at my feet. It still stretched far enough from the first row of beach homes to allow for the gatherings of families and friends, to provide ample room for sunbathing or fishing from a beach chair or for shapes and shovels and buckets to form sandcastles. The day by day happenings of life offer little that transforms the shorelines of our lives. Life still holds its basic shape, its consistency, and its purposes. True, children grow up and moms and dads grow older, but there is still an ebb and flow that is warm, familiar, and comfortable.
The hurricane though or the tsunami unleashes all the fury of nature. There is no longer an ebb and a flow that is warm, familiar, and comfortable. Change happens, and sometimes those changes are catastrophic. Injury, death, and destruction lie in its aftermath. The simplicity of quietness is gone, replaced by an agony of despair and desperation. The shoreline can be dramatically altered. Life as we know it changes, and sometimes there has been little, if any, warning, but nonetheless, the familiar is gone, replaced by an eerie emptiness, a deep darkness, or perplexing, overwhelming confusion. I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within. I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors – even my friends are afraid to come near me. I am ignored as if I were dead. I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror.
When I sit on the beach, captured by my moments of quietness, I can take all the quietness for granted. On one afternoon, I was sitting by myself, and I felt the first drops of rain, and reluctantly gathered my belongings. We were occupying a beach house on the third row of homes, and I made it to the open carport under a home on the first row, when the skies thundered, the wind escalated, and the drops of rain became a torrent. Thankfully, the storm was short-lived, and I managed to position myself between a car and one of the house stilts, protecting myself against the sudden deluge. In the psalmist’s hurricane though, he sought shelter, protection and provision with God. O Lord, I have come to you for protection; turn your ear to listen to me; be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe. I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles and you care about the anguish of my soul.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: Psalm 31:1-24)
