Many of our fellow Australians this week are facing immense pressure from flooding. Lives have been lost, up to $11b in damage, and there is more to come. A lot of us are left at home unable to provide any immediate help, and we wonder what we can do.



Some unhelpful people use events like this to talk about the judgement of God. What they’re really doing is using current affairs to help give a platform to their existing views and hoping for some additional exposure. The heart of a follower of Jesus during a disaster like this is to remember God is compassionate rather than vindictive. We need to recognise that His desire for us is to see his sufficiency and to seek Him and ask for His help. This is work we must all do together, and this is work we can do now.

Psalm 57 opens with the following:

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.

It’s important in times like this to remember we serve a very big God. When we face the shock of seeing the power of nature, sometimes it takes a moment or two of meditation and reflection to remember the immense size and power of the God who stands behind all creation. As our picture of Him becomes clear again in our minds, we are reminded of the safety and refuge available within Him. Whatever we face, and whatever disaster it brings, there is always refuge within God.

We can’t control the weather, and we can’t change the circumstances that have been set in place within our country this week. What we can do is pray to God the way David did in Psalm 57 - feeling the full weight and emotion of the disaster around us, recognising that it’s virtually impossible to place any blame; but still feeling a need to cry out for the injustice and human cost. And as we do, we will be reminded of God’s sovereignty and His power and strength. We’ll be filled with a sense that prayer counts and that the hurt creation calling out to the creator for help and protection does not fall on deaf ears.



Palm 47 says:

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;

And even amongst all this, and as disasters occur and we feel the pain, God still says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (v10).

I encourage you to pray this week for our fellow Australians, and to direct your prayer to the God who is with us and for us.

He will magnify Himself within you, and His glory within the world as you do.

Donate to the Premier’s relief flood appeal here.