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Tornadoes, Tyrants, and Getting Tore Up from the Floor Up in Litchfield
When I first told a friend of mine that I was moving to Litchfield, Il to sere in a church, he only knew of the community because an F2 tornado hit near by on April 19, 2011.
He told me that I was moving to the northern part of tornado alley.
It is estimated that 1,000 tornadoes hit tornado alley a year.
That is the most of any country in the world.
Illinois suffers on average 54 tornadoes a year occuring 135 million dollars of damage.
I had to take this into account when I was buying a home in Litchfield.
I needed it to have a shelter in case a tornado came raging through my backyard.
Buy a house, though, mad eme realize that tornadoes are the least of my worries regarding my home.
Taxes are a real threat to your to your house.
We live in a state, and a county mind you, that finds creative ways to take your money.
Almost a year after Stacy and I bought our house, we received a call from the bank saying our escrow was short and that it would increase $150.00 a month.
We knew it would go up some, but not $150.0 a month.
Come to find out, the county assessed our property value.
Evidently Montgomery County taxes the yardage of cement you have on your property, and somehow that was never taxed with the previous owners.
On top of that, the political powers that be decided to push through the state legislature something like a 32% property tax increase.
With those kind of increases, Stacy and I wondered if we would have to sell our house.
Over 2/3 of our mortgage payment goes to taxes and insurance, never touching the principle.
We tried to speak with our representative about the taxes only to find that her hands are tied.
The state is run by a majority political party that does not hear our voice or care about tax increases that threaten to take our home from us.
It’s not just the taxes that concern us.
It’s the progressive liberal mindset that pushes a socialist agenda that cares nothing for godliness, biblical morality, or even anything close to conservative values.
Furthermore, the pandemic has shown the just how far the state is wanting to reach into your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The states overreach can feel tyrannical, especially the further away from Chicago you live.
It’s been this way for so long it feels as if there is no escape from it, maybe even getting worse.
Both tornados and tyrants threaten your livelihood or your way of life.
They provoke fear in your heart because they have the power to take everything away from you.
Both have the power to put your family in poverty or even prison.
Both have the ability to take your life and turn it upside down.
What do you do when tornados and tyrants threaten your life?
Where do you go when the solid ground you were once standing on gives way to quick sand?
What do you do when all that you felt was secure is now insecure, or all that you thought was stable is now unstable, or all that you thought was safe is now unsafe?
What is your refuge and strength?
Tending the Vine has reveled to me that Litchfield has people, my neighbors, your neighbors, who are looking for refuge in some wrong places.
Right now, too many of them are trying to find refuge and strength in methamphetamines.
They are trying to escape the wind shear of poverty, the projectiles of dysfunction, the weight of addiction by getting tore up from the floor up.
Do you want to know how close these people are to us?
I had two teenage boys in my office this week, who come to our youth group, who are turning to drugs as a refuge from the insanity they face because of drug addiction in their family.
I personally know ten year old children who believe that drugs and alcohol are a refuge and strength for their times of trouble.
Again, I ask you, what is your answer to these children?
Where will you lead them for true refuge?
The Psalmist says in Psalm 46, that
God is your refuge and strength in all of your times of trouble.
What is God’s refuge?
A refuge is a shelter.
Its a stronghold or impenetrable fortress (Ps 61:3; 91:2).
The imagery emphasizes God’s protection.
The psalmist uses the same sense of the word in
or in
Psalm 46:1 says that God is your refuge, that is, God being with you or for you (Psalm 46:11) is like being in an impenetrable fortress, or strong tower, or an embedded storm shelter.
The elements cannot harm you.
Your enemies cannot reach you or destroy you.
You are safe from the chaos of creation or the raging of the nations.
That is what he alludes to when he says times of trouble.
Times of Trouble: Chaos & Rage
Times of trouble refers to something that causes your heart to fear, to be anxious, to suffer distress, or to come under adversity.
He describes two scenarios that could cause your heart to come undone.
Chaos of Creation
The first is the chaos of creation.
Look at verses
The Psalmist is speaking of natural catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, landslides, and tornado’s.
Creation is relatively peaceful.
You walk on solid ground that does not move.
You climb mountains, even build houses on mountains because they are the most secure structures on earth.
You are charmed by the wind picking up leaves off the ground, twirling them around from yard to yard.
You cast a line into a river as you sit in your lawn chair absorbing the warmth of the sun glistening off the water… that is, until terror strikes.
The earth gives way as it shakes.
Landslides rush into the sea.
The winds swirl ripping up trees from their roots.
Rivers washout your house taking every possession you have ever owned.
The terror is that everything that you depended on to be steady, stable, and secure is now unsteady, unstable, and unprotected.
and it can happen in a matter of minutes.
Rage of Nations
Times of trouble also refer to political instability or the rage of nations.
The psalmist says
Verse 6 should remind you of
The nations are unstable.
They bounce back and forth like a teeter totter.
At any given moment one government can topple for another.
Presidents come and go.
Economies fluctuate from expansion too recession.
With every court preceeding it feels like the dam of social peace is about to burst into violence and vandalism.
Freedom and oppression, Justice and Injustice, and Morality and Immorality seem to hang by a thread these days.
This is significant for us because we are living in the last days.
Jesus told us that the nations would rage in the last days.
Listen to how Jesus describes the last days.
We just pulled out of Afghanistan ending a twenty year war, and still peace alludes the Middle East.
Relations with Russia and China have not been this precarious since the Cold War.
North Korea and Iran are both trying to develop rockets that can carry nuclear warheads to the United States.
There is also threats from Foreign terrorists organizations like ISIS and domestic terrorists like White Supremacists.
We live in a world where creation can break into chaos at any time.
We live in a time when the nations rage creating political and social instability.
We are living in times of trouble.
Trouble means your joy is threatened, your hope is threatened, your peace is threatened.
You are tempted to let fear rule your heart.
Take heart friend, God says he will be your refuge and strength.
What makes God’s presences a perfect refuge for you?
There are two truths that make God the perfect refuge for you in your times of trouble.
God commands the chaos of creation and the raging of the nations to be still and know that he is God.
The one commandment in the psalm is verse 10.
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