Finding Hope
in Troubled Times…
January17,1994. I remember it quite
vividly. It was 4:30am and I involuntarily sat straight up in bed from a deep
sleep and, after an initial jolt, felt like I was on a ship in a storm at sea.
It wasn’t a dream. It was an earthquake. The infamous Northridge earthquake
that was a recorded 6.7 magnitude, the ground acceleration the highest ever
instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America. At the time we were
living in the foothills about 20 miles away from the epicenter. Once I realized
what was happening I scrambled out of bed and struggled to maintain my balance
as I headed toward our sons’ room to
check on them. The ground was still moving, rolling actually as if someone was
shaking out a doormat. Glasses and vases were falling off shelves and
shattering on the floor. And then it stopped. What had seemed like minutes was
a mere fifteen seconds. How much damage can be done in 15 seconds? Here is a
brief list of the devastation: 51 deaths, roughly 9000 people injured, 25,000
dwellings uninhabitable, $44 billion in damage, 9 bridges collapsed, 9
hospitals closed, and several landslides that blocked roads and damaged water
lines. 15 seconds. In the days that would follow there were thousands of
aftershocks, one of which was a magnitude 5.9 just 11 hours later. There were
two things that stood out in this disaster. First, there was reason to be
thankful for the time at which it occurred.
Most people were at home still in bed instead of on the freeways,
buildings, bridges, and in the parking garages that collapsed. Second, Olive View Hospital in Sylmar was
just 7-10 miles away withstood the quake. Why? It had been destroyed in the ’71
quake and after its’ collapse, the hospital was rebuilt to a more exacting
seismic code, a firm foundation. This is really life in a nutshell. James, the
brother of Jesus, said it like this, “You are a mist that appears for a little
while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14) How much can go awry in such a
short time? How about failure,
unexpected death, loss of a child, physical illness, abuse, ridicule, divorce,
hatred, bitterness, friendships destroyed, false accusations and on and on. We
all face troubling times, and we sift through the rubble of shattered hopes and
dreams and expectations to find something to hold on to. We need look no
further than the One in whom all things exist, Jesus Christ. Remember that
illustration at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that he told about those two
contractors who were building houses, one on sand and the other on the rock?
Notice that the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat
against BOTH houses. God does not promise us that we will avoid the difficult
times that we face because we live in a fallen world. But He has promised His presence to those who live their lives
with His Son as their foundation. When troubling times come upon us may we be
able to say with the Psalmist, “ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)
Introduction:
Place:
Person:
Passage:
Plan:
A) Recall
B) Examine
C)
Wait