“A hurricane is forming out in the Caribbean and it could strike here!” Such was the warning the people living in Cuba received of the approach of a hurricane some years ago.
For five days the Cubans were alert, afraid, and waiting. They still hoped the storm might turn and head out into the ocean, but who could tell? Some made preparations while others didn’t bother to do a thing.
How like this is to people who hear the gospel message, “Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” (Job 36:1818Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. (Job 36:18).)
Some believe the message and seek safety from judgment by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Others think the wrath of God will never come upon them for their sins, and so they do not accept His way of escape.
The missionaries on the island took precautions and boarded up all doors and windows of their home, and laid in extra supplies of food in case of need.
Then it happened! The black flag was hoisted, and everyone seemed to be in a hurry now. A family of nine living in a shack near the missionaries came rushing in, asking for shelter. They were brought in. Then a young Christian friend came along to offer his help. An unsaved neighbor came asking for shelter too.
By eleven o’clock the winds were howling. Houses began to crumble, trees were uprooted, tiles from roofs were flung everywhere.
Then there came a terrible noise at the front of the mission house. Had the porch been blown down? They rushed to the front door, only to find that the unsaved neighbor had tried to open the door-just to see what the cyclone was like! It nearly cost the lives of the thirteen people in the house.
How this reminds us of Lot’s wife who looked back to the burning cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. She became a pillar of salt. She did not think Sodom was all that bad-her heart was still there. She became a standing witness to unbelief which doubts the Word of God and disbelieves the warning of judgment to come on this world.
When the storm passed, then the doors could be opened. What destruction there was everywhere! Hundreds of houses had been destroyed, trees uprooted, roofs blown off and many lives lost.
However, in front of the missionaries’ home was an electric sign box with a picture of a Bible opened at John ch. 3. Some Cubans who did not want the missionaries in their town had said before the storm that the first thing to be blown down would be the gospel sign. But in the midst of the desolation and ruin all around, stood the little sign and the glass was not even broken.
All the crops had been destroyed, and the Christians had to suffer the loss of food like the rest of the people, but none of them had lost their lives. Their faith in God was strengthened through this experience.
Can each one of us say we are safe in the Rock of Ages?
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.”
Let all seek shelter in Christ because the storm of God’s wrath is soon to fall upon a world which has rejected His Son.
ML-05/14/1978