Spiritual Lessons from Devastating Storm in America

Hurricane Sandy is being described as the biggest storm in modern U.S. history. Due to an official engagement I was in New York City when the devastating hurricane hit the East Coast claiming more than 100 lives, displacing thousands of people from their homes, destroying properties worth millions of dollars, and rendering millions of people without power for many days to come. Few hours of the storm left the region and the city bleed. The New York City has never been so humbled like this after the 9/11. As Christians and non-Christians alike there are ample lessons to learn from.

I was inside a high-rise residential apartment with probably over 50 floors when Sandy struck; and except the harrowing sounds I could not hear much. But few hours into the storm the cars parked in the street were submerged into the water and our fear came true as the underground parking lots where the cooking gas pipe lines, electricity cable lines were all flooded too. The power went off immediately. Moments later we were asked to vacate to vacate the building due to a gas leakage. We tried to call friends and others, but there was no phone signal as well. What actually followed was many buildings in the area went without power and gas supply for many days.

I would like to summarise the lessons into the following four points:

A glimpse of the judgement of God
While sitting in the darkness after massive power outage, I looked out of the window and saw how the water was rising in the street; slowly cars parked in the street were being submerged. It reminds me of the judgement of flood in the days of Noah. What I felt was this is so unfortunate and inconvenient for us. But this is only in a way the judgement of the storm. When God judges us, how fearful it will be. The Bible says, everyone is destined to die once and to face judgement (Heb.9:27). Friends, this storm is nothing compared to the final judgement of God. We must prepare to face that judgement. If you are not ready, you'd better be. This storm may bring inconvenience and suffering for a while but the final judgement will bring suffering and damnation forever.

Vulnerability of Man Made Structures
We cannot really rely on the progress made by man, no matter how good it is. Many parts of the East Coast and New York City in particular look strong with the kind of architecture they have adopted. But when the hurricane Sandy arrived, it was different. The rains lashed the buildings from all directions and left no option for water but to flood everywhere including the underground. Not only Subways but also underground parking lots, electric and gas cable networks were under water. It may now take several weeks for some of the buildings to be restored fully to its original state. The storm was only for few hours. One cannot imagine if the storm lasted for several hours or even a day. It shows the vulnerability of man's progress and it also shows we cannot depend and rely on manmade structures for total security. The Bible tells us not to trust and rely on our man made and created things but on God (Psalm 20:7); because what we can see are temporary but God who is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18)

Storing Treasures in the Safest Place
Many of us are busy storing up our treasures on earth where not only moth and rush but also even storm can destroy our treasured possession. The wealth of a person can be depleted in few days while on earth. It is not a safe place to store away our wealth. The Bible tells us therefore to not store away our treasure on this earth (Matt.6:20) but to store our treasures in our eternal home. The Bible says that the believers are only strangers and visitors (1 Pet.2:11) in this world. Their citizenship is in Heaven and they belong there (Phil.3:20). They must store their treasures there.

A Test on our Preparedness for Eternity
Death can come to anyone at anytime, anywhere. We do not know when it will come. For many of us it will come like a thief in the night. Death through storm was the most unexpected but it did come for many people. How sad and unfortunate. My prayers go out to all of them and the grieving families. The Bible tells us that death will come to all men (Romans 5:12), and it reminds us to be prepared for our afterlife. Based on our preparation some will go and have an everlasting life while others to shame, everlasting contempt and eternal punishment (Daniel 12:2, Matt.25:46, Rev.20:15). We must choose Jesus, God the Son so that we may have an everlasting life (John 3;36). While we are alive alone can we choose Jesus, not after physical death (Luke 16:19-31). We must live wisely choosing not death but life. The life we have now is for the preparation of our afterlife. Are you ready if death comes knocking at your door at an unexpected time? Friends, death is real, if you are not a believer you may be dread of this. If you are not, kindly go to the nearest Bible believing church and learn how you can go to have the eternal life and inherit Heaven.