Flood

 July 28, 2022

Our son Nathan was born fifty years ago in the middle of a flood. Hurricane Agnes had ravaged the east coast, and on June 5, we evacuated our home in Alma, NY. It was a circuitous route to the hospital, as roads were closing all around us. The last few miles, Linda rode in an Army Duck, while I looked for a place to park our borrowed car before catching a ride in a Jeep across the flooded road.

People who have never been through a flood cannot imagine the power of the water. A neighbor’s house was washed completely off its foundation; the maternity wing of the Wellsville hospital collapsed into the Genesee River. After the waters subsided, dead cows and even cars were found caught in treetops. Raging water is fearsome and deadly.

Years ago, Nate set to music the words of Psalm 93: 

“The floods have lifted up, O LORD,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

The LORD on high is mightier 

Than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea.”

There are times in life when it feels like the floodwaters are going to drown us in their fury. They rise, sweeping away all we thought was secure and stable. When the waters finally subside, the landscape often looks nothing like what we knew before. It is then we need to hear the words of this psalm: “The LORD on high is mightier that the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.” The storm rages, but we have an anchor for the soul in Jesus Christ, and that anchor holds.

Isaiah 59:19 reminds us that “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.” Our Nathan is again in a flood; this time fighting the cancer that has lifted up its voice. In response, we lift our voices to the One who is mightier than many waters, who speaks peace to the wind and waves, and the violent seas obey his voice. It can be hard to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit amidst the raging of the storm, but we listen hard, and speak healing peace to the flood. We know the future will look different once the flood has receded, but it will be a future redeemed by the God who is mightier than the waves.