The images coming out of Houston and other Texas towns ravaged by Hurricane Harvey are heartbreaking. The coastal cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur got pummeled with 26 inches of rain in 24 hours — and it’s still raining. Flood waters have swallowed entire communities and multiplied thousands have lost everything they’ve worked their whole lives for.
Flood waters can alter a landscape forever. Businesses, property, and lives are ruined and a “new normal” must arise from the devastation. The enemy of our souls comes against us like this also. Isaiah 59:19 says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.”
Throughout the world, it seems the enemy is having his way, flooding the earth with poisoned waters of hatred, skepticism, and vice. Everywhere we turn, souls are being swept away in the opioid epidemic, deluged by war and threats of wars, drowned in rage and soaked in post-Christian rejection of biblical truth.
But God has not left us without a refuge. It is when the enemy comes in with seemingly irresistible force, and it appears that nothing can prevent him from pouring out his wrath on the believers, God reveals his mighty power. In the crises of our day, and of the time of trouble yet future, God promises that “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” (Isa. 43:2) “Do not be afraid,” God says, “for I am with you.”
Even if you are waist high in the water today, know that God is your refuge and strength. He’s got you and won’t let go. This too shall pass.
