Sometimes, our trouble can be like Typhoon Ondoy's fury, devastating and spirit-breaking...just like this photo I took a day after Ondoy struck Marikina City
To me, watching just the 2012 movie trailer already evokes some kind of fear and anxiety as to what the future might bring, considering the variety of rumblings and uncertainties brought about by the recent natural that has struck countries like the Philippines (Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng), Fiji and some parts of Indonesia (tsunami and strong earthquake).
Obviously, with the huge, huge climate change that has affected the world all over, a movie of end-time theme like the 2012 isn’t going to help any people at all, especially those who are still recovering emotionally, physically and mentally from the trauma.
But whatever reasons the makers of the 2012 movie have in showing it in theaters this month, the Bible has something to say about the uncertainties of the future.
Sure, the weather pattern has drastically worsened in recent years–flash floods on areas that never used to be flooded; stronger, fiercer typhoons and thunderstorms, among others.
But I’m really encouraged by the chapter in Psalm 46, which I was reading and meditating on last night just before hitting bed.
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
You may be going through your own “troubled season of life”. You may feel like the mountains are falling on you right now.
Truth is, we don’t need to go through a natural disaster for us to experience fear and anxiety.
Financial stress alone can already cause sleepless nights to many people, who are suffering in these economic hard times. A widow with three children to feed already has her hands full—thinking on where to get the money to meet her kids’ needs daily.
A cancer-stricken dad can also be a cause of concern for his family, who is hoping they could celebrate Christmas and New Year as one, big, happy family in their ancestral house.
And while these troubles we have may come in varying degrees but with the same stressful effect on our soul and spirit, we can be assured from the passages above that God is our refuge and strength…
The New Living Translation puts it this way…(God is) always ready to help in times of trouble.
God is no heartless being. He cares for every person in this planet.
In response to every trouble we face—remember– God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.