Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida last night as a Category 3 storm. More than three million people are without power this morning; the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, was ripped to shreds by the fierce winds. The storm spawned powerful tornadoes across the state, resulting in loss of life and damaging over a hundred structures. The hurricane has now moved into the Atlantic; storm surge will inundate parts of Florida’s east coast. It will take days to know the ultimate damage from this once-in-a-century disaster.

“When You Pass through the Waters”
At times like this, I struggle to know what to say that could help. Whether it’s the latest natural disaster, the devastation of war, a mass shooting, or another cataclysmic event, words feel so inadequate in response.

I can encourage you to join me in praying for the victims of Hurricane Milton with the grateful knowledge that God can do what humans cannot. I can hopefully help us grapple with the spiritual and theological issues that arise from such tragedies, as I have tried to do this week.

But whether we understand why God allows such disasters or not, we can know that he experiences them with us—not just because he is divinely omniscient, but because he is personally omnipresent as well.

o He promises us, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:2).
o Jesus said of his followers, “No one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
o David could therefore pray, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

“I Know How You Feel”
These promises make Christianity unique among the world’s religions. The gods of Mt. Olympus were apathetic and distant from humans below and often caused their suffering. The various world religions depict a god or gods who are remote and impersonal.

Only Christians worship a Lord named Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

But it’s not just that our God left heaven to be with us on earth—he entered fully into the human experience. He breathed our air, walked our soil, faced our temptations, and felt our pain.

But it’s not just that our God entered humanity—he experienced the worst a human could face. Because he was sinless (Hebrews 4:15), he faced every kind of sin. As C. S. Lewis noted, “We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.”

And because Jesus became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8), he experienced the “ultimate form of torture.” You and I can literally not feel any pain worse than what he felt at Calvary.

But it’s not just that our God experienced the worst of our suffering—he feels it right now with us. He is not just for us, but with us and living within us by his Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). Every fear the victims of Hurricane Milton feel today, every loss they face, every pain and grief they suffer, he experiences as well.

I was taught in a seminary counseling class never to tell someone, “I know how you feel.” This is because, even if your circumstances are similar to mine, I cannot know what you are feeling as you face them.

But God does. He feels them as well.

“The Preparation for Your Being Filled”
Why is it important to remember that the omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omnipresent God of the universe is living in us today? What practical difference does his presence within us make?

o Power is out across Florida this morning, but our God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
o The federal government could be nearing a collapse of its ability to help with major disasters, but because God has made his “home” within us (John 14:23), we are “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).
o Many who face suffering feel alone in their pain, but “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
o Temptation can seem too powerful to resist, but “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
o The tasks we face can feel overwhelming, but we can work “with all his energy that he powerfully works within [us]” (Colossians 1:29).

All of God there is, is in this moment—and in your heart and life. As a result, Charles Spurgeon assured us,

“Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.”

Will you trust your “emptiness” to your Father today?

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