A few nights ago a massive windstorm blew through southern Missouri, where we happened to be sleeping at that exact moment. I woke up to bangs on the roof and wind whirling. Immediately I checked my phone for tornado warnings. Seeing none, I lay back, listened to the onslaught and fell asleep. Only in the morning did my wife and I see the damage wrought all around us.
Fallen trees littered the property, including four blocking the long driveway. The wind forced one huge tree (pictured above) over on its side, leaving a massive hole where its root ball once clung. With help of neighbors we cleared the drive, then spent hours and hours running a chainsaw and picking up branches.
I fell back to sleep the night of the storm oblivious. But my ignorance didn’t affect the chaos occurring all around me.
The ancient kings of Israel attempted to shut the mouths of the prophets, who spoke of chaos to come if the kings refused to turn to the Lord. Rolling over and going back to sleep didn’t serve those rulers any better than it served me. The storm raged on. The prophet spoke these words to the kings:
For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?
The lion has roared—the Lord God has spoken. The words of the Lord God remain. I read some this morning. Who can peer into them and not fear?
Like the kings, it doesn’t serve me in the long run to stuff my head under the pillow. I still wake up to the aftermath of the storm. The secrets of the prophets await, if only I choose to turn their direction.
Amos 3 in reading the Bible in 2023
Wow! That’s a big tree. Is that at the lake house? I was a Baptist Hill in Mt, Vernon when the storm hit. We had a huge tree across the road there as well. We lost several trees, 2 power poles and of course, electricity to the entire hill. We had to post post camp for a day, but luckily it was the first day, so we just told the kids to wait a day to come. Praise Jesus we had power restored by 3:30 on Tuesday and were able to start camp.