The videos are truly horrifying. Last week, flash flooding ripped through an area along the Nepal-Tibet border, destroying entire towns with hundreds (including many tourists) reported missing. The videos show water and mud instantly overwhelming areas and washing away towns.
These horrifying videos of people going about their day and then suddenly being overwhelmed by floodwaters reminded me of four lessons for us:
- We need to pray for those affected. Pray for the grieving families, the survivors awaiting rescue, and the rescue crews and humanitarian groups providing aid in remote regions with washed out roads and bridges. Pray for the Christians who will surely be involved with giving help and aid to those suffering (more on that below).
- It’s a broken world. Everything is groaning (Romans 8:22), and natural disasters like these are a painful reminder of just how broken creation now is because of our sin.
- Consider Jesus’ words, “For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be” (Matthew 24:37). In Noah’s day, just like in Nepal, people were going about their regular business, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” until the Flood swept them all away. They had no idea that morning when they woke up that it would be their last day. And that is true for all of us—none of know when our last day will be. In a fallen world, disasters happen. Are you prepared for when you will stand before God? The only way to be prepared is to have placed your faith in Christ alone for salvation.
- The Flood of Noah’s day was a catastrophic event. As awful as the flash flooding in Nepal was, it was just a tiny event, “a little water” compared to the global Flood of Noah’s day when God judged a wicked world for their sin. “A little water” in Nepal caused immense catastrophic damage—really more than we can comprehend from watching a few videos and seeing a few photos of the aftermath. We can’t really begin to imagine what the Flood of Noah’s day must have been like when the fountains of the great deep burst open and the windows of heaven dumped rain for 40 days and nights. It would have been beyond devastating and catastrophic. These localized catastrophes remind us of that reality. And they remind us of God’s covenant with us, sealed with a rainbow, that He would never again flood the whole earth (this covenant is one way we know the Flood was a global event—many devastating local floods, like this one in Nepal, have occurred since God’s promise).
Our hearts go out to those impacted by this tragedy. If you’d like to give toward emergency relief, please consider donating to our friends at Children’s Hunger Fund. They have a specific emergency relief fund set up to provide help and gospel hope through established church partnerships in the wake of this tragedy. They are currently assessing the situation and figuring out the logistics for how to mobilize relief as the bridges and roads connecting these communities were destroyed. Here’s what they shared with me about what they do know about the current situation:
We have a few Mercy Network churches located in the most devastated areas of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading districts. Mercifully for these partnering churches, their villages are situated on higher ground directly above villages in the valleys where the major floods occurred. Our Mercy Network Coordinator has attempted to reach out to them on several occasions but has not heard from these pastors yet. We would love to invite you to please join us in praying for these devastated communities and the gospel-centered churches that will respond.
Please be praying and considering giving toward the gospel-focused relief efforts. Go to childrenshungerfund.org to give.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
