Broken Roads.

It hasn’t been long since Hurricane Helene devastated many places on the eastern coast of the US. I remember watching the news footage of the massively powerful flood waters washing away cars, homes, roads….everything in their path.

This past weekend, I went to Saturday morning prayer. Towards the end of the hour, Pastor Chris Erwin led us in prayer for those in those areas who were still without many things we consider necessities for living. He said this: “We have teams on the ground in these areas who are strapping water and diapers and food on the back of their 4-Wheelers and ATVs to drive their supplies up the mountain and help them.”

In that moment, the Lord put a picture in front of me that closely resembles the one you see here. It was a broken road.

(Now, for all of your Rascal Flatts fans….go ahead and sing it out and then continue reading. 🎤 🎶)

Here is what that picture meant to me:

The people at the top of that mountain had the road washed out from underneath them…..the road representing their self-sufficiency. They literally could not make their way down the mountain….they had to wait and trust in the provision of those precious servant hearted people to be able to make it. I can only imagine the conversation at the exchange sites as the provision was handed over to those in need –
“Thank you so much.”
“We didn’t know how we were going to make it.”
“You are an answer to our prayers.”

Crisis is a great editor.

The picture I saw represents us. We have gotten so self-sufficient. We are able to do a lot of things really, really, really well and have, in many cases, minimized or eliminated our dependency on the Lord. We have technology, we have gifts and talents, we have intellect, we have resources, we have modern medicine. I thank God for blessing us with all of those things and have certainly been on the receiving end of all of them – whether directly or indirectly.

Sometimes, however, the road gets broken….washed out….and those things we put our “faith” in, so to speak, are inaccessible. There we find ourselves desperate again…..waiting on the provision that can only come from Him. The peace that can only come from Him. The calm that can come IN the storm, not just on the other side of it.

I saw me in that picture.

There are a lot of things I can do and handle just fine on my own. Until I can’t.

The road gets washed out and I become dependent again:

I saw us in that picture. There are a lot of things we can do and handle just fine on our own….in our businesses, our homes, our communities, our relationships, our finances, our politics, our _, even our churches. Until we can’t.

The road gets washed out and we become dependent and desperate again.

Don’t miss the picture.
Don’t miss your position in the picture. Don’t miss His provision – always there, but sometimes we only notice it when we can’t provide or solve the problem on our own.

Please read all of Psalm 34, but I’ll close with these two verses:

“The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Help us, Lord, return to a place of total dependence on You. Daily. Hourly. Minute-ly. 😊 Break us of our misplaced faith and teach us, once again, to fully rely on You. We hear You.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen.