Oak Hill Church of Christ 10-9-22 Message: "Frankenstorm"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the importance of turning to God in times of trouble.

Tragic natural disasters reach the ears and hearts of many people. Seeing the display of destroyed homes reminds us that destruction is more than dollar signs, and disasters are more than news stories.

Destroyed homes are symbols of destroyed lives. The nearly-complete school assignment left abandoned on the kitchen table. The freshly repainted room ready to lovingly receive a newborn child. The yard staked off for a pool. The planned addition for an aging parent.

Those pictures remind us how quickly the future can end, no matter how well we plan or how righteously we live. They remind us of the fragility of life and, at the same time, the permanence of the soul.

God tells His children that He is willing to deliver them from many hardships, to walk with them in their time of struggle and suffering. He is willing to usher them into their destiny. The key is making sure to place God in His proper place in our lives.

Belivers should seek God's help in tragedies of all kinds, and seek Him first, rather than last. As well, believers should consider that God often uses the hands of man to carry out His will, and we ought not to look to the supernatural deliverance to the neglect of the deliverance of a kind spirit. One never knows when God has sent someone as an answer to prayer.

Whether your storm is internal or external, look to God, and look to His salvation; be aware of the many ways deliverance can be manifest, and praise God for those times when He saves.