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A Prayer About Good Things from a Bad Flood

     And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

     Dear heavenly Father, I’m gladly driven today to this classic passage in the midst of our  unprecedented ordeal. Seeing the aerial view of tens of square miles… driving through several neighborhoods… checking on numerous friends… dragging ruined furniture and belongings to the street from my son’s home… it’s all quite sobering. But it’s also quite centering.

     Father there are no exceptions to the category called “in all things” in which you work for the good of your children. There’s no fine print qualifying the limits of your goodness. There’s no hidden rider in this passage excluding certain crises or delineating mitigating circumstances. There’s no broken situation too big or too little NOT to be thought of in terms of you, and your purposeful calling on our lives in the gospel.

     We love you, NOT because you’ve promised a life free of hard things and confusing providences. We love you because you first loved us and gave your Son, Jesus, for our redemption. May this good news never be cliché to us, but evermore profoundly humbling, gladdening and centering.

     Even if it’s hard for us to imagine what good things you might bring through this bad flood… (or any of a number of mind-blowing, heart-wrenching, envelope-pushing situations many of you may be going through right now)… we have NO reason NOT to trust you… NOT to anticipate great grace and profound mercy… NOT to stay present in whatever stories of redemption and restoration you choose to write by the waters of this flood.

     You are the Lord of the flood and the fresh-water spring… you are the God of the tornado and the cool morning breeze… you are the Ruler of the fear-producing earthquake and the promise-laden rainbow. You alone are God, and you alone are good. Give us enough gospel-manna to worship you and serve our neighbors all day long. So very Amen, I pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.

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