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December 5
I know I am not the only one who has had a lot of things unexpectedly happen this year. The April tornado devastated our community and, unless you have superpowers, it probably caught you off guard. I have faced a lot of different emotions when continuing to face the restoration process. Out of all the towns in Oklahoma, it had to hit us.
When reading Psalm 79, I am immediately brought back to the night/early morning after the tornado. The writer of Psalm 79 describes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army that was made up of several countries that were also destroyed and conquered. We get a pretty clear picture of the chaos. In verse 79 the author asks, “How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?” I have had the thought, did the tornado happen because of something we did? Did we make God angry or something, because it feels like a punishment. I have no idea why the tornado happened. I remember it, being 12:00 a.m. in the morning of April 20th and crying on my bed, because it felt like my entire world had just crumbled. It felt like everything I built up for my high school senior year was just destroyed.
The end of Psalm 79 can serve as a reminder that we are still called to praise God in the midst of destruction, like the author did when Jerusalem was conquered. God is still good, and he is still watching over us.
Clara Timmons