My husband and I lived in Nashville, TN (USA) from August of
2017 to August of 2019, so we are well acquainted with the area. And, we have
friends and family there, too.
Tuesday morning, just after midnight, I believe it was, a
tornado ripped through Greater Nashville, TN. And, it did an enormous amount of
damage to houses and buildings, and even to some church buildings, too, across
a wide area. And, a number of deaths were reported, as well, sad to say.
My heart goes out to the people of Nashville at this time.
My love and prayers are with you at this difficult time.
When I learned about the tornado, I got on the internet to
check out the news, and it was just heartbreaking to see all the damage there.
And, then a life-time friend of ours who lives there texted me to let me know
that their church building was destroyed in the tornado.
And, so I looked that up on the internet, too, and I saw this video of a prayer meeting outside the damaged church building.
The Fallen Cross
What impressed me about this video was that their church
steeple had fallen down to the ground, and the cross, which had been placed on
top the steeple, was now resting near and seemingly pointing to a handicap spot
in the parking lot. But, the cross was not damaged.
Immediately I sensed in my spirit that this was a message
from God, so I prayerfully began to take notes on what I had seen, seeking the
Lord for the message he has for me to get from this, and then possibly to share.
Then, I went back to the video, and on my camera on my phone
I recorded a section of the video where they were panning down the steeple,
away from the building, to the cross, which was seemingly pointing to this
handicap spot in the parking lot.
Now, I was totally unaware that while I was doing this that
my husband was playing some hymns in the background off of his phone, and the
hymn that got recorded on my recording of the video was “All the Way My Savior Leads me” (full lyrics below). It couldn’t
have been more perfect!
For, then I looked up the definition of “handicap,” and that
led me to “a circumstance that makes progress or success difficult.”
Well, that certainly describes the situation in Nashville,
TN, at this time, and the situation this church congregation is being faced
with, too. And, then I read through the lyrics to this hymn, and what stood out
to me were these words:
“Can I doubt His
tender mercy,
Who through life has
been my Guide?
…For I know, whate’er
befall me,
Jesus doeth all things
well.”
I believe the Lord is in this, and that he has a purpose for
it, and it is about his tender mercy, and it is about God working things out
for good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
But, it isn’t just that. I believe there is a much deeper message here.
Psalm 63:1-4 ESV
“O God, you are my
God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for
you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is
no water.
So I have looked upon
you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast
love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as
long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.”
I believe that God, in his providence, allows us to go
through difficulties, trials, disasters, and tragedies, oftentimes to get our
attention, and to draw us to seek him earnestly with our whole hearts, minds
and souls. And, that is because there is a message he has for us, something he
wants us to learn through our trials, if we will listen, and if we will heed
his words to us.
And, this is the message I am seeing here:
The name of the church is “Hopewell.” If you break that
down, it says “hope well.” “Hope” is what we have in God, in Jesus Christ, in
his grace, and in his salvation from slavery to sin, which he provided for us in
his death on a cross. And we, who genuinely believe in Jesus as Lord of our
lives, have this hope in the promise of eternal life with God, too.
And, “well” means “sound, healthy.” So, this is a biblically
sound (in doctrine) hope in God and in his promises.
So, “Hope Well Church” has been destroyed by a tornado,
which is a storm. So, this would be like saying that the church which hopes
well (was sound in doctrine regarding their hope) has been destroyed. But, not
entirely. It is severely damaged, but there were parts of this building still
standing, representing not a physical building, though, but a spiritual
building comprised of living stones, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone.
And, the “storm,” I believe, is the cheap grace gospel which
is permeating today’s church, particularly here in America, which is not sound
in doctrine regarding our true hope in Christ, but is a man-made gospel created
to appeal to human flesh and to coddle people in their sins, rather than to
encourage them to turn away from their sins to follow our Lord in obedience.
To The Cross
Now, this is what stood out to me next. The camera panned
down the steeple away from the destroyed “hope well church” to the cross of
Christ and to this picture of that circumstance that makes progress or success
difficult, represented by the handicap parking spot. And, then the song said, “All
the way my Savior leads me…”
So, where was the camera leading us? Away from the destroyed
“hope well church,” i.e. the church that hoped well in God, but that sound (in
doctrine) hope had been destroyed. And, it led us to the cross of Christ, and
to our troubled circumstances, and to the song which talks about our Savior
leading us in the way he would have us to go.
So, I believe the message here, that our Lord wants to
convey through this, is that he wants us to turn away from that destroyed hope,
that damaged hope that was once well, but that is not well now. And, he wants
to lead us to the cross of Christ as our hope, and as our answer for what
troubles us.
And, he is leading us back to a hope that is well, i.e. that
is sound in doctrine, because it is based in the teachings in scripture, and
not in the teachings of men who are promising a false hope based on a lie.
What is it?
So, what is this hope that is “well,” i.e. that is sound in
doctrine, which our Lord is leading us to?
First of all, it is that we need to earnestly seek after and
thirst after the Lord and his holiness and righteousness. Then, we need to turn
away from what is destroyed, what is ruined, what is not whole and healthy
spiritually, but what is ruining our lives spiritually.
We need to move away from all of that destruction, and we
need to come to the cross. And, Jesus explained what that means when he said
that if any of us would come after him, we must deny self and take up our cross
daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. For, if we hold on to
our former (destroyed) lives, we will lose them for eternity. But, if we lose
our old destroyed lives for his sake, we will gain eternal life (Lu. 9:23-26).
The Handicap
And, lastly I see one more thing, which I believe is a
message for the whole church, but which may be a message the Lord wants to give
to this specific congregation, too. And, that is that as the camera panned down
this steeple away from the destroyed physical building, it took us to the cross
of Christ and pointed to our broken condition, too, i.e. to our handicap.
And, I believe that handicap that is hindering the church’s
spiritual progress is this building, but not speaking necessarily of the
physical building itself, but that the church is not a building built by human
hands. It is not a denomination or a corporation under the government or a
business or a social organization. It is not anything man-made, in other words.
So, the Lord, I believe, is taking this opportunity to say
to his church here to move away from this idea that the church is a building or
a denomination, etc., and to move away from man-made religion and man-made
structures within the church, and away from man-made gospels which do not honor
Christ as Lord, and which do not call for repentance and obedience to Christ.
And, he is calling everyone to come to the cross, and to die
with him to sin that they might live with him to his righteousness and for
eternity with God.
He wants us not dependent on men and their man-made
structures, but he wants us totally dependent on him in all things and for all
things. So, the encouragement here, I believe, is to move away from what is of
man, and to come to the cross, and to seek after, and to thirst after God,
instead.
All The Way My Savior
Leads Me
Lyrics by Frances J
Crosby, pub. 1875
Music by Robert Lowry,
pub. 1875
All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.
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