A Present Help

I turned on the radio while driving through Concord this morning to be greeted by an apathetic female voice listing off the news stories of the day. "The four Americans being held by Somali pirates were killed earlier this morning..." was all I heard. I quickly turned off the radio and stared blankly through the windshield at crystal clear skies not unlike those in the internet thumbnail photo behind the smiling faces of Jean and Scott Adam adrift on the S/V Quest.

Only yesterday I had been reading the developing story of their plight, the U.S. warships monitoring the situation, and the compelling fact that they were known to be Christians carrying Bibles to distribute in oppressive lands. One story even went so far as to state the relative insignificance of the Bibles and their faith to the situation since, "...the pirates...are not hardline Islamists." We may never know whether the Bibles played a role in their unlikely demise or not.

But the Bibles made a difference to me. I had breathed a prayer for them upon hearing the first accounts, and then breathed another more plaintive prayer upon learning of the repulsive resolution. Repulsive to me.

Was this course of events repulsive to the Master of the seas as well? The foul filth of a fallen planet must always be repulsive to the Creator. Yet I'm certain he was was not repulsed by the chain of events, and much to the contrary, was very near and faithfully present there.

My girls were both on the verge of illness Sunday morning, and I'm recovering from a knee injury, so I held church with my 7 year old in the living room while Bec went on to church. We read Psalm 46.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
³ Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

I took time to work the various angles of "present," "fear," "refuge," and "strength" in order to coax these pertinent truths through a 2nd grade mind.

I couldn't help thinking of these verses as I pondered that fateful final voyage for the Adams. Their "earth was removed" and their "waters roared," and some would say that God was not "a very present help" in their trouble. Humanity is chronically short sighted.

This wealthy couple from beautiful Santa Monica, California, aboard a beautiful Yacht must have left a fortune behind. What wonderful people and what tragic loss. Such wealth abandoned.

But the wealth, the wonder, and the yacht were not lost to pirates. It seems they were not even the property of the Adams. Rather, as should be the case in the lives of all Christians, the material forfeiture and submission of life must have occurred long before the pirates were first spotted on the horizon. It seems the Adams had already passed the possession of these on to Another. Their possessions and their mission were in the hands of their Present Help.

When God is our strength, our refuge, and always present, and when we have submitted the charts and direction of our life to the Master, it should be a small step indeed through the gates of heaven.

I firmly believe the Creator was present on that yacht, and with Him the peace that passes understanding.