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After the hurricane: Reflections on Psalm 62

by Winfield “Casey” Jones

Thursday afternoon, September 18, 2008

In our Houston suburb, more than five days after Hurricane Ike came though, over half of us (including my family) are still without electricity. But by God’s sheer mercy it is unseasonably cool, and quite incredibly (for Houston) no one needs air conditioning. Some people lost shingles from their homes, a few lost entire roofs, and some had flooding. In almost every yard, some trees and many large branches are down. In my Pearland neighborhood where we have many mature trees, most of the branches and many of the trees have already been cut up and hauled by residents to the edge of our street. So as you drive down the road a huge wall of branches and other debris rises up on each side. It looks a bit like a war zone. And yet the most widespread form of damage is perhaps the least serious. Before the hurricane in some subdivisions almost every house had been separated from the one behind it (and also from neighboring back yards) by six foot high wooden fences. Besides the widespread loss of electricity, the most prevalent form of damage is that almost every one of those wooden fences is on the ground. Downed fences combined with people working outside to clean up their yards as well as their not having a TV to watch inside or air conditioning to keep them cool, has resulted in an unprecedented number of people not only being outside at the same time but also talking to each other and giving one another a hand. I have discovered that fences being down can be a very good thing. Recently my friend, the Rev. E. Stanley Ott, director and founder of Vital Church Resources, sent out by e-mail one of his periodic letters of encouragement entitled “Building One Another.” He mentioned the hurricane turmoil in our part of the country and also the financial turmoil in all of our nation. He then directed his readers’ attention to parts of Psalm 62. At our church’s weekly Wednesday night Bible study the next night, I asked those present to look at Psalm 62.

                                 The Psalm and the hurricane

This Psalm of David speaks of the strength of God, of the weakness of human beings, and of something else: fences and walls! Let’s briefly look at each of these themes as it relates to the hurricanes and other storms of life.

God’s Strength

Psalms 62 affirms God’s strength and reliability. It says, My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation (vv. 1-2) The Psalm goes on to say again that God is our “rock,” our “salvation,” and our “fortress.” The person who finds refuge in him will not be shaken. (v. 6) During the hurricane, many of us had a safe place where we hid or were prepared to hide — a room without windows, a walk-in closet, or a hallway filled with mattresses. Such safe places remind us that God is our ultimate refuge and protector. ...

by Winfield “Casey” Jones