I have watched several documentaries, read personal accounts or was told by eyewitnesses of how the people responded that were in a large destructive, terrible hurricane. I think it is very hard to understand what someone is going through unless it has happened to you.
Thousands of people were able to get to safety, some on their own and others with a lot of help. Many were taken to shelters, homes, churches or benevolent facilities.
Many were thankful and very appreciative for what was done for them or for the attempts that were made to help.
But that is not the case for all. I have listened to eyewitness accounts where those helped became drunk, disorderly and insulted or abused the people trying to help. They also trashed (destroyed) the places where they were staying, and some were so bad they could not use the facilities anymore.
The two and totally different responses reminds me of something the Bible talks about.
First, the Bible says God loves us very much.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Second, He has provided a way of helping us.
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Romans 5:8 ... but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Just as many did not respond to the help offered or they abused that help, we might be treating God the same way. The Bible is very clear that there are those who will obey God and do good, and those who will do evil and not obey
Revelation 22:11-15 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
See you in Church next Sunday.