Article October 22, 2018 Issue

Restoration after flooding

Dean Coughtry

“Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” (Psalms 78:19). My wife and I had the following opportunity to see this question answered in our own lives in a practical way.

It was August 28, 2011, and our village was being evacuated as a precaution against the approach of Hurricane Irene, a rare event in upstate New York, where we were then living. My wife was away at this time, and while driving north on my own I talked with firemen at a roadblock on the edge of town, who somberly told me they were expecting eight to ten feet of water right where our house was located.

I was stunned, and my first thought was one of concern for the well-being of our two cats, since I had left them inside with the door to the upstairs hallway closed. My second thought, however, was a verse attributed to Moses: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared” (Exodus 23:20). This assurance, which God gave to the children of Israel during their travails in the wilderness, represented to me at that moment a promise that no matter how deep the waters of our earthly experience, God’s kingdom is intact. The divine Love that reigns over all was actively lifting us above any evidence of a destructive power opposed to the good that is God. This heavenly thought was Spirit’s immediate gift to me, and it was enough. It helped carry the day against the uncertainties crowding in. I drove on and spent the night with church friends.

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