UNTIL THE DISASTER HAS PASSED

What is a disaster?

Dictionary.com says a disaster is, “A calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage or hardship.”

And in this verse from Psalm 57:1 it says, “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”

I ran into friends, a man and a wife who a few years ago, this past week being the date of her passing.

They lost a teenage daughter in a sudden automobile accident.

By the definition it certainly is a disaster and it certainly was to them.

When a mother buries her child in the afternoon and lays across the grave all night, in mourning, then a disaster has occurred.

I witnessed a soloist backed by a choir sing a song entitled, “I Will Trust In You”.

The soloist and her husband, and their family, lost a young son in an accidental drowning also a few years ago.

A calamitous event?

Most definitely, so how could she sing of this trust?

I watched a man and wife join themselves to the fellowship of a church.

Unusual?

Not really.

It happens quite frequently.

However, does it happen to a man and a woman who lost a daughter, a son-in-law and two grandchildren in a sudden plane crash just days before Christmas?

A great loss of life?

Without question.

Yet the writer of this Psalm is not speaking of a disaster in the past that he has survived.

He is writing of a present disaster when he says, “I will take refuge” and, “until the disaster has passed.”

My closing challenge is that if someone you know is currently going through a disaster, write this verse down on a note or piece of paper, or text it, or email it, get it to them.

It will be of such encouragement.

One because you cared enough to send it.

 And two, because it is a promise from God to all of us.

“I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”      Psalm 57:1

John