It seems like we've had more sand/dust storms than ever before this year. And I've decided I must be a storm chaser at heart, for when inclement weather threatens you'll most often find me mesmerized, out staring at the sky and sometimes remembering to frantically pull laundry off the line before the dust and rain turns to mud! :-)
Some find that ominous orange wall of sand rushing towards them terrifying for from this side, there is no way to determine how deep the darkness will be. My niece is one of those. Others dread the imminent mess that will need to be swept and dusted and shaken out of their homes once the air has cleared.
My kids are enticed by the excitement in the air, the roar of the wind, the bending and snapping of tree branches, the panicky barking and meowing of the pets and the screeching of birds speeding through the air, seeking to outrun the storm and each storm leaves them begging to run outside and allow their bodies to once again be pelted... exfoliation au naturale!
Living these storms certainly makes passages from Habbakuk come alive...
How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,
but you do not come to save.
Must I forever see these evil deeds?
Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.
The law has become paralyzed,
and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted.
The Lord replied,
“Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.
I am raising up the Babylonians,
a cruel and violent people.
They will march across the world
and conquer other lands.
They are notorious for their cruelty
and do whatever they like.
Their horses are swifter than cheetahs
and fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their charioteers charge from far away.
Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.
“On they come, all bent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind,
sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.
They scoff at kings and princes
and scorn all their fortresses.
They simply pile ramps of earth
against their walls and capture them!
They sweep past like the wind
and are gone.
But they are deeply guilty,
for their own strength is their god.”
O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—
surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
to punish us for our many sins.
But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
swallow up people more righteous than they?
Are we only fish to be caught and killed?
Are we only sea creatures that have no leader?
Must we be strung up on their hooks
and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
Then they will worship their nets
and burn incense in front of them.
“These nets are the gods who have made us rich!”
they will claim.
Will you let them get away with this forever?
Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?...
...Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lordis my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights.
