The Floodwaters Won’t Overwhelm You

Here, in the UK, we have just been through the wettest month of February since records began. The flooding has been terrible for householders and farmers alike.

We didn’t have floods in our area, but our river, which takes all the massive rainfall from the Pennine hills, was flowing at nearly twice its size and had engulfed its banks to maybe three metres deeper than usual. Trees were deeply swamped and the current swirled with a great pounding surge. No way could we walk along its banks. Any animal venturing in would have been swept away in the fearsome current along with the logs and branches dashing past. We kept a safe distance!

A few days later, we re-visited our riverside walk. It was a windy and cold day. The water levels had dropped and of course we were eager to see what was happening on the river bank – and whether there was any river bank left! The trees along the banks told the story: great bundles of leaves and sticks and grasses jammed into the twigs and branches of the trees about two metres or more above ground. That showed how high the water had surged. The grassy bank was swept clean by the flood and a new layer of clean sand had appeared on the ground, covering everything.

Then I saw it. There, on the new layer of deposited sand, a little snowdrop bloomed. Pristine and innocent, two little bell flowers nodded white and apparently completely unscathed from their ordeal. I was absolutely taken aback. I have no idea how they survived just as though nothing remarkable had ever happened.

And in my mind, I heard those words of Isaiah quoted above: ‘When you pass through the waters I will be with you ... they will not sweep over you.’

I’ve gone on thinking about those words for a while now. Floods and storms are big devastating events. Many people are suffering deeply just now from terrible damage and destruction. Lives have been torn apart, homes and livelihoods rocked.

We also go through other kinds of floods and deluges of destruction in our lives. There are emotional devastations that rock us and threaten to overwhelm us. The diagnosis of a tiny physical symptom has the power to shake us to the core of our being. Emotional storms tear up our family lives, our work lives, our friendships. We can feel tossed around, unsafe and wobbly. I’s real and deep and shattering.

Prayer: Thank You, God, that You promise to stick close with me through whatever turbulent waters threaten. You will not let the waters overwhelm me. I am Yours and You keep me safe. Amen.